By Alicia Rittenhouse
You have heard the buzz surrounding Facebook Pages and Facebook custom landing pages, but are you confused with what you should include as a writer? First off, you should have a Facebook fan page. Then, you should have at least the following on your page:
1. Complete About Section – This is often an overlooked area, believe it or not. You can add this in a matter of minutes. You don’t want someone to land on your feed page, click on your About section out of interest to know exactly who you are and what you do, and have it be blank. What does that say about you — especially as a writer!
Your About Section should have:
- Bio or About Summary – The who, what, where, and whatever important information about your company
- Contact information and/or consultation scheduling link
- All of your websites and blogs with links
2. Opt-In Form and Pink Spoon – This is another way to capture email addresses and build your list besides on your website. If your Facebook Page disappears for some strange reason (remember Facebook owns your page), your emails are the only way to contact your peeps to let them know. If you do not collect email addresses, you have no way to contact them. Those contacts are just gone.
Your “pink spoon” is an incentive that encourages people to sign up and lets visitors sample your writing and style. A pink spoon is generally a FREE ebook, audio or informational product that you give your visitor in exchange for their email signup on the web form. You want to make sure that you include a signup form with a pink spoon on your Facebook page and your website. This is uber important!!
There are applications out there that will help you create a custom landing page. For DIY apps, my favorite is Wildfire, but here are a couple others that you can check out TabSite, IWIPA, Hubze, or Lujure. Or you can hire someone to create a customized one for you.
[Editor’s Note 11/2016: Because the internet changes rapidly and this post was written 5 years ago, some of these apps are no longer in service.]
3. Video – Make sure to include any videos you have on your landing page AND the video section of your Facebook Page. Your readers love you for your writing, but video gives them a 3-D view of who you are as a person and business owner. Your personality and passion for what you do as a writer will shine through on the videos.
4. RSS Feed – Import your RSS feed into your page via your Notes or NetworkedBlogs. Networked Blogs is an application that will auto post your blogs and give you the ability to create a page with your archives. This is simple and gives your blog posts the added exposure that they need. It is hard to keep consistent with posting your blog posts over to Facebook by hand, so make sure they are receiving maximum exposure.
5. Links to Your Other Social Networks — Have your potential customers feel like they can reach out to you on the various social networks. Make sure to include links to your Twitter Page, LinkedIn Profile, and wherever else you may have profiles at. Remember to only include those you are active on. You do not want someone going to a social network to connect with you when your last post was four months ago!
Another suggestion that will allow for you to send people to one place is to create an About.me page. This is a customized landing page that allows you to connect all of your social hangout spots with a bio and an image.
What have you included on your Facebook Page? Share your Facebook Page below, and we’ll check it out.
Alicia Rittenhouse teaches entrepreneurs to become tech savvy in their business and use social media to grow their online presence. To receive her easy-peasy social media tips, click here.
In honor of Alicia’s guest post, I’m donating $50 to InvisiblePeople.tv.
