Tag Archives: Facebook

3 custom app builders that reinvent Facebook pages on a shoestring

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App integration can play a critical role in optimizing the potential of your small business’ Facebook page. Yet, the problem for many tends to be the intimidation factor— app design presents itself as an unfamiliar and seemingly daunting endeavor for marketers and small business owners who don’t consider themselves “techies”. Capitalizing on Facebook apps doesn’t necessarily mean you need to be fluent in code or have deep enough pockets to hire someone who does. There are a significant number of custom app builders that aren’t only “noob-friendly,” but dirt cheap, too.

Pagemodo | $13
In terms of ease-of-use, Pagemodo excels. This builder allows individuals to select tabs from a wide array of pre-designed templates, upload photos and custom app designs, and generate clean, simple, grade-A Facebook tabs for things like menus, directions, digital business cards, and photo albums. The downside of Pagemodo? With ease-of-use comes certain restrictions; that is, customization is limited due to the simplicity of the apps. Templates are relatively static, and outside altering color palettes and text, personalization is somewhat restricted. There’s no RSS feed feature and cross-media integration with other pages, like Twitter or Pinterest, can be sketchy. Nonetheless, Pagemodo is cheap. At around $13/month for unlimited tab creation, it’s the best option for marketers who are brand new to the Facebook app game.

Social Page Builder | $20
Social Page Builder is multi-layered, doesn’t require HTML knowledge and starts at around $20/month. But what gives it an edge on Pagemodo (and makes it a prime pick for the SM-dedicated marketer) is how customizable it is on a template-basis. Users can remove, add, and edit entire layers of the provided app templates with ease to create stylish, custom tabs that are unique to their business. SPB also allows its users to use its software on 15 different pages. That means you can integrate custom apps into your business’s Facebook page and any other pages you might be utilizing at a given point in time.

Shortstack | $30
Shortstack is a catch— it’s what Raise Your Share uses on select Facebook pages. For demanding perfectionists, Shortstack’s templates are about as customizable as SPB’s, and allow for [nearly] seamless integration with other social pages. Shortstack has pre-built templates for Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Twitter feeds. It’s also RSS-enabled and allows users to host contests and integrate Google Analytics. While there’s a slightly bigger learning curve, the price makes up for what it lacks in ease-of-use— you can start today, for free (though the unlimited package is $30/month).

Generating a social media strategy for small business

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Social media and big business have a special kind of love affair. The problem is, when it comes to small businesses capitalizing on social resources, there’s often the all-to-daunting question of where, exactly, to start. This confusion often spawns a seemingly prototypical response: Social is not right for my business. It is easy to dismiss the potential of social media marketing when that first blog or tweet goes un-talked about. Read on for some tips for where to start when generating a social media marketing strategy for a small business.

Be your own bookie
Numbers are key to knowing where to focus your energy. While outsourcing is an efficient solution, it’s not completely necessary to launch by employing a third-party analytics or automation platform. Keeping track of your social activity might be, at first, as easy as logging your daily ratio of tweets to re-tweets. How many individuals “Liked” an update? What was the subject matter of that post? All of these are things to note.

Know the relationship between media and platform
The type of media you’re trying to publish has a close relationship with the platform you are using for distribution. For instance, Tweeting is ideal for hyperlinks, URL’s and quick bytes of information. Pinterest is great for images. Facebook is excellent for sharing, contesting, couponing and telling stories. Think about what you are putting out there and recognize the ideal platform to utilize.

Rebuild your brand
When you go social, you are telling the world that you are ready to interact. You have just showed up at the party of the year and it’s time to prove to everyone just how interesting you are. Maybe the sign outside your office is beige; your best customer is your eighty-year-old relative or you only have three employees— none of it matters anymore. Stepping into the world of social media marketing is a fresh start for your brand, your image, and the dialect through which you choose to translate. Why are you different from your competition? What do you want people to notice? Think of it as the first day of high school.

Invest in your community
Big things have small beginnings. Share your insights with the community and develop a group of references, mentors, partners, and affiliates with a presence on social networks. Address questions, concerns, events, and trends in your area and collaborate with local entities to maximize local impact on a global scene through couponing, special offers, sponsorship, and symbiotic promotions. Keep it close to home.

Shifting marketing dollars: Digital advertising for growing business

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An eMarketer study published June 2012 found marketers allocate less than 20% of their ad budget for social media. The principle discrepancy— especially for small business— may be a lack of confidence in social media’s ROI. Small businesses, in particular, seem uncertain about allocating advertising dollars for digital and social media, and whether or not the investment is a smart move. With leaner budgets, less online presence, and a localized consumer, the idea of “playing with the big boys” on the field of SM marketing seems a bit daunting. Truth is: the size of your business is relatively irrelevant. Large and small companies can win with social media commerce.

Going social with your marketing strategy is not just about rethinking where your ads will be or how much they’ll cost – it’s about what they’ll do. Marketing on social media channels like Facebook allow for list-generation— not only reaching consumers, but establishing a relationship with them. Facebook allows a business to build a community, and with the right tools, to collect a database for remarketing.

Why not Google? While Google still has a far greater market share than Facebook, there are certain pitfalls of advertising with the search engine behemoth. For one, Facebook offers a lower degree of competition when it comes to fighting for keywords and search-result priority. What’s more, Google doesn’t offer the casual internet user the comfort that Facebook does. Google is not as personalized, so advertisements tend to seem intrusive. Facebook is the consumer’s space, not yours, so the presence of a business there is far less invasive.

The cost of Facebook advertising is the most appealing factor for small businesses. Ads can cost less than ten dollars a day, pay-per-click can cost as little as a penny, and advertisers can set caps, constraints, and limitations on how much they’re willing to spend by the day, month, or lifetime of their campaign.

Facebook is not the only outlet for a business’ social media advertising budget. Among options, Twitter now has double the mobile revenue of Facebook. While Facebook still has a much larger market share, Twitter’s present and projected growth are giving Facebook a run for the money.