Getting our WordPress blog content onto Facebook required work, extra time, and outside tools, but it had to be done. We could paste in code and use other plugins to add “Like” and “Share” buttons back on our blog, but it was far from a seamless experience.

The new Facebook Plugin integrates with WordPress in both directions.

Now we have a WordPress plugin from Facebook that makes putting Facebook on our blog fairly easy, and in return, sends our content to Facebook. It takes our content and fan interaction and helps it go in both directions, and we can publish to both our Profile and our Fan Page.

Install The Plugin And Set Up Your App

Setup on the WordPress side of things is fairly simple. Just install the app into your WordPress blog like any other plugin, and activate it. You’ll need to configure some settings on the plugin before continuing. The plugin guides you in the setup steps within WordPress, and prompts you if you’re missing something. If you haven’t verified your Facebook account with a mobile phone number or credit card, you’ll be asked to do that at some point. This verification can be done in your Facebook Account settings.

After the plugin has been installed, you’ll be asked to set up an app for your WordPress blog.

The plugin has guides for setting up your Facebook App.

You’ll need both a logo and icon for your app, so have those ready to upload. Be sure to follow the directions provided within the plugin completely, since there are specific things that must be in place in order to publish to your Timeline. Facebook provides instructions here, though there are some hiccups in setting up the app, which we’ll discuss later.

Once your App is setup and in place, you can set it to make your blog posts public on your Facebook Profile. Go to your Facebook Account Settings > Apps > (Your App) Edit. Select “Everyone” for who can see the posts the app makes on your Timeline.

 Customize The Plugin

Once you’ve followed the setup directions, you’ll be able to customize how you want to use the Plugin.

You can choose how you want Facebook used on your blog.

You’ll have easy click setup for many of Facebook’s Social Plugins.

If you select “Subscribe”, be sure to adjust your Facebook Profile settings to allow for subscriptions to your public posts, otherwise a small error message will be visible on your blog posts and pages when readers interact with the buttons. You can also adjust the settings to allow for where you want these items to appear — location, color, size — in your post. Each option comes with explanations and links to explain and guide you through the setup.

The Social Publisher is where you’ll be able to automatically publish new posts to your Facebook Timeline and Page.

Each option includes settings as well as guides and help. Some require additional steps in the Facebook App.

It’s important to note that if you choose to use Facebook comments, it will turn your WordPress blog comments off.

New Facebook Widgets And Publishing Options

With the plugin comes some useful Facebook widgets that does away with some of the previous methods that required copying and pasting code.

New widgets make it even easier to integrate with Facebook.

When writing a new page or post, the plugin will give you several options on how you want it to appear on Facebook.

Customize how you want the item to appear on your timeline and page.

Tagging While In WordPress

The plugin allows you to mention Facebook friends and pages within your post. This means your blog post will show up on the timeline or page of those mentioned. These mentions are also featured at the top of the post itself on your blog, with links to the page/profile. Think of it as tagging, right from WordPress, with the ability to customize the message you want to accompany your blog post or page.

Tagged friends and pages will be mentioned at the top of your post.

Adding these mentions is simple; the WordPress publishing area will have been populated with a number of plugin-added options, including a place to add friends and pages mentioned.

Tagging pages and friends is easy, and sends your content to their timelines and pages, too.

You may want to wait until you’re ready to publish before adding these in the sidebar of the post publishing area, since they don’t seem to be reliably saved each time you click “Save Draft.” The plugin stumbles a bit in locating Pages in this publishing interface; it found “big” brand name pages, but wasn’t able to find the smaller business pages (as of yet). The plugin had no difficulty finding friends as they were typed in.

The Plugin Has Downsides

Facebook has stumbled a bit with this plugin. While  tagging a friend and publishing to their wall worked right away once the plugin was installed, activated, and connected to my Facebook account, the automatic publishing feature for my own Timeline and Page had a few roadblocks.

Right now, getting this plugin to work is going to require the creation of the Facebook App, which isn’t intuitive and doesn’t make it user-friendly for bloggers who aren’t comfortable with the developer side of things. There is some hit-and-miss-trial-and-error that happens while trying to set the plugin’s Social Publisher to work as needed, and it isn’t exactly spelled out in Facebook’s instructions found here.

The process goes smoothly except for one roadblock: the app creation.

Also, the Facebook App has a wait time for approval. I’ve been waiting over a day now, and haven’t seen successful blog publishing to the Timeline yet, though it oddly seems to work for a Facebook page. Some users are having no difficulty, others are struggling.

In this plugin, what works — Facebook integration on your blog — works well and happens easily. That’s impressive. What doesn’t work smoothly — creating an app and setting up automatic publishing back to Facebook — is frustrating. Hopefully, Facebook will address this issue.

 Your Blog Is Evermore Important

We’ve always said blogs are important, but with this kind of integration possible, it’s apparent more than ever. Your fans can interact and share content to a greater level than before, right on your blog. Simple clicks, and your content is shared.

Sharing and sending your blog content has become extremely easy for your readers and fans.

If it wasn’t clear before, it should be now: everything about your blog is social.

First it was rolled out in New Zealand, Canada, and Ireland, but at last the Facebook Pages Manager app has landed in the United States.

The Facebook Pages Manager app is now available for iPhones.

Facebook Pages Manager joins the main Facebook app, and the Facebook Messenger app, as a complete set of tools to manage your Facebook presence with your iPhone or iPod. iPhone/iPod only, though, since the new app isn’t available for the iPad or Android devices yet.

Filtering options are available in the new app.

The Facebook Pages Manager app does exactly as it sounds: it helps you manage up to 50 Facebook Pages you’re the admin on. You can filter what you see to keep things simple.

Track your Facebook Page Insights easily on the go.

The new app has a matching look and feel of the standard Facebook app, and so using it shouldn’t be a challenge for regular Facebook users. It features navigation on the sidebar, and the app will let you perform a number of tasks via your phone. You can post updates and photos, of course, but you are also able to receive notifications of any new activity on your page. The app makes responding to comments and fan activity simple. The app also gives you access to page Insights. Currently, there is no ability to manage messages in the app.

The Facebook Pages Manager app make page management possible on the go.

If you’re an iPhone or iPod owner and you’ve been looking for a way to manage your Facebook Page(s), this latest offering from Facebook makes it possible. Expect updates in the future, including (hopefully) access to messages.

Get ready, the new Timeline for business pages is here.

The Facebook Timeline is not necessarily new, but it is making headlines all over again. Facebook recently announced that all Facebook pages will be convereted to the new Facebook timeline view by March 30, 2012. So, what is a brand suppose to do in the face of change? Change, of course.

Like it or not, the timeline is coming your way.

What will change with the new timeline?

Over the years, there have been many changes made to Facebook. In fact, it sometimes feels like they never stop changing. This time around, however, the changes are very positive and offer some major benefits to brands.

It's tough to miss the new cover photo.

Cover Image

One of the most noticeable changes to your brand’s page will be the new cover photo at the top of the Wall page. This image will become the defining element of the page. This is a very exciting change for your brand, since it will add more actual brand to your page.

The Timeline

The timeline portion of the page will completely change how visitors see posts. With the new look, all of your posts – past and present – will be visible in an ongoing timeline layout. This will give visitors a better overview of your brand each time they visit. This feature makes Facebook an even better tool for telling your company’s story.

Locations are very important in the new Timeline.

Location, Location, Location…

With the old Facebook, users had to click on the Info tab to get information about your physical location. While a small change, the new Timeline puts this information front and center. Not a bad move for the local business. If you haven’t claimed your place, now’s the time.

Look - a nifty new hub for Facebook Page managers!!

More Control, More Information

Facebook has always offered a great stats and analytics package call Insights, but with the new Admin Panel, those insights are right at your finger tips. The new timeline features a handy admin panel that will give you all of the juicy details you need each and every day, such as new likes and notifications.

Bigger Welcome Tabs

Facebook used to provide only 520 pixels for welcome tabs – the customized pages that welcomed first time visitors. Now, users have access to almost twice as much space (810 pixels). There are plenty of creative things that can be done with this new real estate. It will be exciting to see what develops. However, it should be noted that administrators will no longer be able to set a default landing tab for page visitors. So, while they are bigger – the ‘welcome tab’ technically no longer exists.

Fewer items, but more visible. That is the way of the future for Facebook tabs.

Improved Visibility for a few Facebook Tabs

With the new Timeline, the familiar left hand menu is gone. Now, users will only see the first four links at first blush. The remaining tabs will still be available after a secondary click. You can choose which tabs you want highlighted. In the long run, this is a very positive move on Facebook’s part.

Milestones

In addition to normal everyday status updates, you can now add special milestones to commemorate special events in your companies history. For example, the day you changed over the the timeline!

Private Messages

Many people don’t realize that the new Timeline page also comes with a new Messages features for all brands. Just like Facebook personal profiles, brand pages will now be able to send and receive private messages to inquiring minds.

Hide Stories

With the new timeline view, some might worry that they won’t be able to hide old posts that are no longer relevant. Generally with Facebook, once it’s there, it’s there. No more. Brands can now hide or “bury” stories from their timeline with ease.

Fully Active Wall

If there is one thing that social media has taught us, it’s that busniesses are no longer in control of the message. With the old Facebook pages, only posts that we created would show up on our Wall. No more. Now, shares, comments, likes, and friend activity will all be incorporated into the picture of your brand. While you will still have full control (remember you can hide stories), this can post a potential risk for companies that aren’t paying attention to negative attacks.

Add emphasis to the major moments in your company's history.

Pinned Posts and Highlights

With Timeline, you can choose to ‘pin’ one of your bests to posts to the top of your page for up to seven days. This is a nice feature that allows you to keep current news, current. In addition, you can ‘Highlight’ individual posts on your Timeline – causing them to appear in ‘full size’ across the timeline page. Creating a ‘Highlight’ is as easy as clicking the star on the post.

Friends Activity

In the top right corner of your Timeline, users will now see other friends that also like your page. In addition, this section will show any conversation that these friends are having about your brand (i.e. specific posts mentioning your page). Some might call this social proof, but it increases your risk of negative press if you aren’t paying attention.

Activity Log

In the new activity log, you will be able to see every post that has ever been published on your pages, as well as mentions by other Facebook users. Think of this as a summary of all the activity that has happened surrounding your Facebook page.

Updating to Timeline is simple, but needs to be well considered.

Activating Timeline For Your Brand

So, how do you go about getting the new Facebook Timeline for your page? Facebook makes the process really simple with their Timeline for Pages preview manager. From this page, you are able to individually upgrade each of your pages to the new Timeline with a single click.

Don’t worry, the upgrade doesn’t happen all at once. After you click ‘upgrade’ you have seven days to get your page ready for launch. You should spend this time getting acquainted with the new layout, and setting up the newly available features.

Change Is Good

Overall, the whole Timeline situation is going to work out pretty well for your business. With more branding real estate, and the option for highlighted information on the Timeline, there is a lot for brands to be thankful for. Aside from the specific features, some the primary benefits of Timeline are:

• Better visual exposure for design/branding elements.
• Improved emphasis on the ‘local’ aspects of business.
• Huge step forward in the storytelling aspect of online networking.
• Additional communication avenues show promise for community building.

With Facebook, there are more than a few hidden features that can mean a lot to any business if leveraged properly. Recommendations are one of those features, and just about any business can take advantage of them with almost no effort at all.

One of the main reasons that businesses get involved in social media is because of the sharing opportunities they provide for fans and customers. Facebook recommendations provide a simple way for anyone who likes your page to ‘recommend’ you to a friend. Think of this as a customer review, but with a more positive twist.

How Facebook Recommendations Work

Currently, Facebook recommendations can only be left on your Facebook business page. On your page, there are two primary places for fans to enter their recommendation. The first happens immediately after someone ‘Likes’ your Facebook fan page.

Recommendations can be added right after someone likes your page.

Once someone has successfully liked your page, Facebook will immediately suggest that they leave a recommendation in a simple drop-down box. From my experience, this is the most effect method for gathering recommendations on your page.

The second method for gathering recommendations is in the right-hand sidebar on your page. This section is much less obvious, but can still be valuable for a very motivated fan.

How to Enable Recommendations For Your Business

To allow customers the ability to leave recommendations, your Facebook page must have a physical location. So, if you don’t have your address listed on your Facebook page, you will need to update it to enable this feature. This could require that you change your page category.

To make changes to your page, click on the Edit button in the upper right hand corner of your profile. Under the Basic Information tab, you will see a drop down box with various categories. Be sure to choose Local Business or Place as the category. This is the only option that will let you enter an address.

Once you have done this, enter your address in the fields provided. And, that’s all there is to it.

Your page must have an associated physical location to make this work.

How to Get Recommendations

Once you have recommendations setup, you will need to develop a few ways to get more recommendations out of your fans. One of the easiest ways is to just ask for them. There are a few places that you could do this.

• Do a post on your Facebook wall that asks fans to leave a recommendation.
• Ask fans to leave a recommendation on your custom Facebook welcome tab.
• Offer a special or an incentive to anyone that leaves a positive recommendation.

Most businesses will find that several of these techniques are required to gain more recommendations to their page. One thing to keep in mind is that everyone who Likes your page from here on out will be prompted with the recommendations box. So, theoretically, just by encouraging more Likes you will be incurring a certain percentage of Recommendations.

Powerful Sharing

Every time someone leaves a recommendation on your page, they are given the option to make it publicly visible to your fans. While not everyone will do this, many will. This simple feature allows a basic recommendation to take on new life, and reach far beyond your usual audience.

Facebook recommendations are one of the simplest ways to generate conversation about your brand. They are surprisingly effective, and as you can see, they are very easy to enable. They are simply another must have in the world of Facebook Marketing For Business.

By now you have most likely heard about the changes that the CEO of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg announced at the f8 conference in San Francisco. If you haven’t, the long and short of it is that the new Facebook is very different from the one that we all know and love.

Zuck announcing the new Facebook Timeline. Photo credit: Mashable

And, that probably isn’t a bad thing either.

Yesterday’s outline of Facebook’s future made it absolutely clear that the goal of Facebook is to become THE social layer that we all use to communicate and document our lives online. Their goals may sound lofty, but if any company was able to do such a thing, it would be Facebook.

Today, I want to introduce you to one of the most significant change of all – the new Facebook Timeline.

The new Timeline is scheduled to eventually replace the current personal profile that we all have now. Rather than just being a glimpse of the things that we are currently doing and saying, the Timeline’s goal is to showcase the entire story of our lives as understood by Facebook.

Quit literally, the new Timeline goes from birth until the current date in time, summarizing your entire documented life within the Facebook system. Every post, every picture, and every major event will be included in the new Timeline. Prepare to be amazed at how much Facebook knows about you!

A Tour of the Timeline

Using the method outlined on Techcrunch I was able to convert my personal profile to the new Timeline. At this time, I am the only one that will be able to see it until it goes live on September 29th, but you can try it for yourself. For those of you that aren’t quite ready to make the jump, here is a preview of what you can expect.

Start With The Cover

The first thing that you will notice about the new Timeline is the large “cover” image that is at the top of the page. This, of course, is an optional feature that you can completely control. It definitely adds a punch to the page, and I can see brands loving it. No word on if this layout will make its way to those fan pages though.

Everything In One Place

For some, this will be the most creepy feature of the new Timeline. Facebook really reveals that it knows a lot more about you than you even thought. All of your friends, Places check-ins, and photos are visible to one and all. Technically, all of this information was out there before – now it is just easier to get to.

All of your Facebook location check-ins are collected right up front on your profile.

View All Your Activity

So, you know all of those little activity statuses that Facebook tracks every time you changed your profile picture or added a new friend? Well, now they are all visible (only to you) under the activity tab at the top of your profile. This is a pretty amazing feature. Keep it mind, that this log is visible only to you.

Don't let yourself think that Facebook hasn't been paying attention.

Rediscover Your Top Stories

So, this is really where the name Timeline comes from. All of your Facebook posts, past and present, will now be ordered in a timeline view that dates all the way back to your birth. You can navigate your personal timeline by scrolling or by navigating the timeline menu in the upper right hand corner. This is definitely the most interesting feature of the entire update and some pretty new ground for social networking in general. This essentially becomes a museum of yourself. Facebook is definitely very proud of the fact that they know more about you then just about anyone!

Another view of the running timeline. Believe me, it goes ALL the way back.

Facebook’s new Timeline even made an effort to highlight key events in my life, such as my wedding date (it was way off btw..). Job changes are also given significant billing within the Timeline view.

Highlight What’s Important

As part of the Timeline features, you are able to edit some of the details and major events that are included. You can even star certain timeline events to make them fill the entire column, giving them more attention than other items. This feature allowed me to add a company logo to a recent job change, but it still didn’t allow me to change the date of my wedding.

I suppose it is still a work in progress.

Final Verdict

Overall, this is a VERY significant overhaul to the Facebook profile page, and really the entire social web. Facebook has made a significant jump in the documentation and organization of our entire social lives. I foresee a lot of debate in the future over the privacy ramifications that Facebook’s users will question. It appears that Facebook is really attempting to move past that, though. They want your data to be as public as possible and are doing their best to push us all forward.

So, what do you think? Are you excited for your new profile page?

I have to admit for myself, I was pretty intrigued by the history lesson. If you care to take a spin even further down memory lane, here is The Evolution of the Facebook Profile as curated by the folks over at Mashable.

More than once, I have been asked by companies why they need a Facebook page. Citing their already functioning website, they usually don’t understand why they need both a website, and a Facebook page.

I definitely understand the question. If an online presence is all you are after, then a website is surely enough, but there are a lot more reasons than that to have a Facebook page. For one, your customers want you to be there. Why, you ask? Because, that’s where they are.

So, what motivates a customer to follow an online brand? A recent survey conducted by CoTweet and ExactTarget gave us a look at ten reasons why customers are motivated to follow brands on Twitter.

Here is a glimpse into the average Facebook customer.

1. 40% want to receive discounts and promotions
   
   
2. 37% want to show support for a brand/company
   
   
3. 36% hope (want) to get free samples, a coupon (a.k.a. freebies)
   
   
4. 34% want to stay informed about the activities of the company
   
   
5. 33% want to get updates on future products
   
   
6. 30% want to get updates and information on future sales
   
   
7. 27% like to get fun and entertainment out of it
   
   
8. 25% want to get access to exclusive content
   
   
9. 22% mentioned they were referred by someone to follow this brand/company
   
   
10. 21% want just to learn more about the company
    
    

Coming Vs. Going

One of the most famous movie lines ever written comes from a Kevin Costner movie called Field of Dreams. The line goes, “if you build it, they will come.” I quote this line often, because many times it is the way we approach websites. We plan, we design, we develop and then we launch and hope they will come.

Unfortunately though, they don’t always come.

The problem, of course, with any website is getting visitors. There are many strategies and tricks that we use to improve traffic, but we are still relying on them coming to us. No matter what, we launch, and wait for them to come to us.

The thing of it is, we need to be going to them just as badly as we need them to be coming to us. Marketing isn’t a passive sport. We have to insert ourselves into the mix to make things work.

This is exactly what makes Facebook such a powerful marketing medium. It is a way for us to go directly to the source. It is a way to insert ourselves into the conversation that is already happening. Websites, usually, aren’t about conversation and back and forth dialogue. Facebook provides something uniquely different in that way.

Simply put, your customers use Facebook. 55% of them log in every single day. Instead of waiting for them to come to you, you need to be willing to go to them. Your website is still an important part of the equation, but it alone isn’t the total of your online presence.

We know that there are at least ten different things that your customers want out of a Facebook page. Now, it is just up to you to provide them. And, the good news is – you don’t need to wait for them to come. They are already there.

The opportunities for online marketing are huge, and they’re getting bigger. Recently mobile phone manufacturer Ericsson announced that 18% of Americans login to their Facebook profile before their head even leaves the pillow (source). This means that online mediums are the first place they are turning for relevant information. It also means that mobile is continuing it’s massive growth as a computing platform.

Has Facebook killed our productivity?

Same Old Communication

Many see this new figure as a disturbing trend. Perhaps it is, but I really see it as changing of the guard. Facebook is a platform for communication, and that is a perfectly natural part of human life. We are always communicating. Be it talking, writing letters, using the telephone, and now even Facebook. It is a natural part of life to be connected and in touch with those around us.

Surely there is plenty of time wasted on Facebook and other social networks, but I think the biggest question is what is this time replacing. The article from the Daily Mall touches on this:

While people become addicted to Facebook in the home, a new survey by Harmon.ie found that more than half of U.S. workers waste an hour or more a day on ‘interruptions’.

It was calculated that 60 per cent of this wasted time came from electronic devices and e-mails, while the other 40 per cent was from traditional sources, such as phone calls or chats with colleagues.

I guess my feeling is just that this trend isn’t as disturbing as it seems. Sure, there are interruptions, but is that new? How do you feel? Is social media an interruption or an opportunity for engagement and communication?

The blue bar on top is a left-over from the old layout. Time to make it go away!

Life is busy, and some things just fall through the cracks. Well, in today’s Fix-it Fridaypost we are going to dig up one of those tasks and get it fixed.

Just a few weeks ago, Facebook launched a new page layout, and the Todaymade Facebook profile image has become a bit outdated. So, today, I am going to fix ours and teach you how to do that same.

Most of the time, when setting up a Facebook page, we just upload a simple logo file. This is fine to get you started, but it is, usually, not the best way to create impact. Did you know that Facebook allows your profile image to be as tall as 720 pixels? That is a lot of space that you might not be taking advantage of.

How to make your own extra-large Facebook profile image

To make your own profile image, you will first need a blank canvas in an image editing program like Photoshop. You will want it to be 180 pixels wide by up to 720 pixels tall. At Todaymade, we opt for something between 320 and 520 pixels tall. This height gives us prime placement and prevents the links on the sidebar from being pushed too far down the page.

Now, you can design until your heart is content. Some of the things that you might want to include will be your logo, tagline, phone number or website URL, but overall – be creative. If you look, at our page, you will see how our image blends in perfectly with our welcome tab.

Once you have finished editing your new profile image, save it as jpg, and upload it to your Facebook page. You will also want to be sure to adjust your profile thumbnail. Here, I am updating the Todaymade pic:

It is easy to update your own Facebook profile image, see!

This is a quick and easy way to add a little something more to your Facebook page. It took me less than 15 minutes. Take some time today, and make your marketing better!

[This post is an excerpt from our Mastering Facebook Marketing for Business email course. Click here to sign up, it's free!]

The one thing that we all want and need when marketing on Facebook is fans. Well, good news. Today we have 5 great ways to get more fans to your Facebook page. These methods range from the small and simple to the big but practical.

Also, we wanted to remind you that this weeks podcast also covered this very topic be sure to take a listen if you haven’t already..

How to get more fans to your Facebook page.

[podcast]http://todaymade.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/mix_011.mp3[/podcast]

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Now, onto the main event…

1. Invite your friends

Once you have your fan page up and running you will want to suggest that all of your personal Facebook friends become fans of your page. This is a really easy way to get a few fans, and usually works great, as it seems that most people on Facebook will do whatever you tell them to do. And, don’t stop there! Ask your employees and coworkers to do the same thing. Collectively you should be able to get a couple hundred fans without too much effort. To do this, just click the ‘Suggest to Friends’ link on your fan page.

2. Import your email contacts

Did you know that Facebook will automatically send an invitation email to everyone on your email list? To do this, you need to go to the settings for your page and click ‘Tell Your Fans‘ under the Marketing tab. You will also need to have a database file with your email addresses. After that, this is a pretty simple way to convert your current contacts into fans.

3. Use outlying promotional avenues

There are things that your business sends out every single day that can carry your Facebook link, so start using each of them to connect users back to your fan page. Links to your page should be on all of your email newsletters, on your website and maybe even in your email signature. You might be surprised at how many people follow through with these links when they are made easily available.

4. Ask people to tag themselves in photos

Here is one thing that you may have never considered. Post photos from an event or group activity and ask attendees to tag themselves in the photos. Every single time they tag themselves, your photos end up in their news feed and in their photo gallery. Since browsing photos is one of the number one activities on Facebook, this is a pretty good place for you to be featured.

5. Get involved in the conversation

Facebook now allows fan pages to comment on other fan pages. This means that you can make written connections on other Facebook pages. Pay attention to what business or groups in your area are talking about and participate in the conversation. You will automatically create links to your fan page this way, and the more you do this the more link traffic you will develop.

Wait! There’s more!

Still not enough fans for ya? Well, we have five more fan growing tips in our Mastering Facebook Marketing for Business email course.

In celebration of our free Master Facebook Marketing for Business course, we are talking all about Facebook today. Specifically, we will be covering some things that you can do to get more fans to your Facebook page.

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