Facebook has started 2021 with some interesting changes to Pages that will help us small businesses use it for marketing.

Change no.1 - the disappearance of the 'like' button

Many of our clients tell us that while they have a decent number of likes on their Page, they get little interaction when they post. One of the causes is that people have 'liked' the Page but aren't 'following' it so the Page's posts don't show up in their news feed. It makes the 'like' number irrelevant.

So...first change it that the Facebook 'like' button is gone. What you'll see now is just the 'followers' and it will give you a better idea how many people are getting your Page posts.

Change no.2 - the reappearance of the Page 'News Feed'

The second, really useful change is that you'll see a News Feed for your Page. They have always been there but Facebook has hidden them in the past. This is *great* news. Why? Because you should be engaging with other Pages from your Page and this makes it much easier to do that.

Would you like some help growing the following of your page? Don't know what we are talking about when we say 'engaging from your Page'? Check out our social media marketing online courses, live and digital workshops in the Stockholm area or talk to us for help with your business marketing.

Change no.3 - asking and answering questions create a Q&A area

Whenever we look at Facebook these days, the feed is full of people asking others for help or opinions on things. Facebook is sensibly capitalising on this. Your fans will be able to ask questions on your Page and the answers you give will be turned into a Q&A area that fans can swipe through to find what they are looking for.

This could be a goldmine for small businesses. If you don't have any fans asking you questions, ask some of your best customers if they'd mind doing so.

Change no.4 - making Page admin more detailed

Admins will now be able to give access to individual areas of the Page back end. Most of us only have ourselves to think about but when, for example, clients of ours want us to help them with Ads or deal with their Messages, they'll now be able to give us access just to those sections.

You'll see the changes to your Page in the coming weeks. Let us know what you think of them!

Check out our social media marketing online courses, live and digital workshops in the Stockholm area or talk to us for help with your business marketing.

Facebook has just launched a new element on business pages called Shops, to tie in with Shopping on Instagram. Perfect for small businesses selling products but also useful for selling services, even when you sell to other businesses.

Facebook Shops are accessable from your Facebook page and from your Instagram account. Perfect, so we don't need to create them twice and maintain two areas.

You can now add products and services that people can browse through and even purchase (at the moment, just in the US...) within the Facebook Shop.

Read more about it below and click here for Facebook's information.

The Shop area of your business page can be used to showcase anything you offer that is productised. This includes workshops, courses, reports and even fixed-price services, although there is space elsewhere for them too

Here is how we have displayed two of our own online courses in the Shop on our Facebook Page.

There is also a tab for Services. If you can't see either tab, look in the settings. You may need to change the template of your Facebook page to get them. It is a very simple thing to do.

Here is how we display two types of services:
1. Individual coaching appointments - one-off video calls with us
2. Coaching packages - to help business owners get their marketing on track and bringing in customers/clients.

While Facebook wants to help small businesses grow, especially at the moment, there are millions of us. Just putting items and services on the page won't get you any extra sales.

Now you need to promote both the Shop and the individual items. Facebook will help you if you put the effort in.

If you would like some help with this, book a coaching call with us or perhaps even sign yourself up for our six-week social media and content marketing programme (online or IRL!). We'll get you up and running!

Did you have any problems with Facebook and Instagram yesterday?

#InstagramDown

On one of the busiest days of the year in the US, both Facebook and Instagram lost the ability to add anything new. People saw content from before the crash, messages in Messenger just sat there and Instagram feeds didn't update.

Of course there will be times when things go wrong but there is no poitn missing the irony that Instagram had to use Twitter to let people know what was happening :)

Now everything is working again but if you are running ads on either platform, go and check to see what happened yesterday. It might affect your results and stats.

If you need help with your advertising, get in touch with us.

Are you using Instagram at the moment? Let us know how you are getting on with it below in the comments or click here for our survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/9LZJK7B

It is so simple to set up, it only takes one step! In the Instagram app, find Settings and scroll down to Switch to business account. That's it, you've converted your account from personal to business!

Do you use Facebook ads to promote your business? If so, watch out for changes happening mid-August 2019 to the size of mobile ads - they are getting smaller in two ways:

• Only 3 lines of primary text will show on Facebook mobile News Feed. People will be prompted to click to view additional text.
• The max height for photos and videos will reduce to 4:5 on mobile News Feed. The tallest supported aspect ratio for images without links and for videos is now vertical (4:5). Media taller than 4:5 will be masked on Facebook's mobile News Feed.

What does this mean for you?

You will need to think hard about the first three lines of your text - they need to inspire people to click 'See More'. Not an easy task!

On the positive side, images that you use for Instagram will work better with this Facebook ad format.

If your website and social media profiles are failing to bring in new business to you, then our social media and content marketing coaching group may be just what you need. We'll work together to get your social media and content marketing set up, running and bringing in clients. We will talk through the theory and then spend time together working on YOUR website and social media. Here are five great reasons why you should join our social media and content marketing coaching group in the autumn.

1. We set some goals, look at who you are targeting, what strategy is needed and the tactics to achieve those goals. We will work through the theories of content and social media marketing and then get started with a practical content marketing exercises that you can use immediately.
2. We focus on your website, including the all-important SEO of your content and work on it to produce content that you can post.
3. We analyse your social media, work through the theory and then start to apply it to your social media profiles.  You should see some immediate results from the sharing and engaging.
4. We’ll link everything we have done with email marketing, which makes your marketing much more effective (and efficient!). We'll get you set up with an RSS feed, build an email campaign, set up a lead form and then look at the results to understand what happens when you post some content on your website.
5. We give you everything you need to market and get those clients contacting you.

Our team is passionately committed towards empowering entrepreneurs to further grow their businesses and this coaching group is an ideal way to get your business growing.

You can expect:

• a full understanding of the process of content marketing and how it works
• what social media marketing needs to convert followers into potential clients
• a very practical programme working directly on YOUR website and YOUR social media profiles
• practical actions you can take immediately
• a chance to talk through through the techniques, with your goal in mind
• masses of support from us and from the group
• a six-month plan so you know exactly what to do, when and how.

Click here for details and to join our Social Media and Content Marketing Coaching Group.

With over 200 million users daily, it's no question that Instagram stories have become a vital marketing tool for modern businesses nowadays. If done right, Instagram stories could significantly increase reach by leaps and bounds at little to no cost at all. Jimmy Rodela, Digital Marketing Manager of EBCallCenter.com, gives us his tips.

Many businesses have now taken advantage of the platform, and it is best if your company could ride the hype as well. But it is crucial to execute Instagram marketing correctly. So before jumping in, here are a few things to help you boost your business through Instagram stories.

Make sure you have the right script that will capture your audience's attention in an instant. Give followers just enough information to keep them interested but wanting more.

Your visuals and label have to entice the user the moment he clicks on your link. If it doesn’t work the first time, try again with another story style till you get the right formula.

Recently Instagram has added a feature wherein stories appear in the search results of a hashtag.

People searching hashtags will more often than not click on your stories as they are already showing interest in the subject matter at hand. Stories will appear to users even if they are not following your account.

Remember, you can’t fit all the necessary information in an Instagram story. The only facts you need to share are the juicy ones. The audience that expresses an interest will want more.

Have your clickable links ready in your swipe up option to avoid losing your audience with short attention span. Don’t waste the engagement by not being able to give them all the information that they want.

Depending on your industry, and if you have been in it for a while, you can already identify who your influencers are. They are the people who are capable of increasing your sales of the once they give their endorsement of it.
 
They are the first group you should tag for them to look into your stories and have them share with their many followers.

Divulge juicy and entertaining facts at the end of every Instagram story. It will give your followers satisfaction for staying until the end of the story which would make the keep coming back for more.
 
You can unveil teasers or promo codes and prizes that will reward those who took the chance to click on your stories.

Your competitors will be following you to check up on what you are working on. Using Instagram stories will give you the option to exclude them from seeing the stories.
 
This way you can market and share all you want without the fear of your competitors copying your ideas.
 
Do you enjoy Instagram stories? Has it helped you in any way to further your business? Share some of your stories with us.
 
Jimmy is a freelance writer and the Digital Marketing Manager of EBCallCenter.com. He owns GuildofBloggers.com. He has contributed to Yahoo, SearchEnginePeople, SEMRush, and Business.com.

The growing social media wave isn’t ending anytime soon and most business owners know they need to be online and social to remain visible. What isn’t so well understood is that:

Yes, 3 years…

You should get your social media accounts set up from the inception of your business. Or, if possible, well in advance of launching. Pre-launch marketing is often more successful than launch marketing, as people love to feel they know about something before most other people! Your target audience is hanging around in one or more of the popular social networks – work out which ones they are and get your profiles up and running so you can start to:

1. Connect with your target audience
Social media provides a way for you to have an open two-way channel for communication with your prospects and customers. Whether you are there or not, your prospective customers are looking to social media first to connect with you. So be there.

3. Improve client retention
The open communication and convenience of social media is extremely conducive to building deeper relationships with your clients. When people have an opportunity to connect with you or provide feedback, it makes them feel like they have a voice and when you respond in a prompt and professional manner, you boost customer loyalty, which means better client retention.

4. Increase traffic and conversions on your website
Each time you include a link to your website in a social media post, you’re creating new points of entry for viewers to get to your website. The more time they spend in contact with you, via social media and then via the website, the more likely they are to convert into a customer.

5. Open up opportunities for sharing
If you have a marketing message that you want to convey to your audience as quickly as possible, all you have to do is post it to your social media account. The benefit here is that your followers see you as a person just like them, making you stand out more in their minds and you can get the message out too them quickly. If there is a blog post you just wrote - post it. If something has gone really well – post it. If your operational hours have changed – post that too!

6. Keep track of your competitors
Watching your competitors’ activities might should a little creepy but it not only keeps you up to speed on what they’re doing, it provides extra insight into your business’ advancements. Having access to this information, you can compare your competitors’ business actions to yours and use that knowledge to improve your business strategies to stay ahead of the curve.
If you’re already in business and think you could be getting sales from social media, get started. At whatever stage you are at, create a social media plan, get your profiles set up and get posting!

Would you like more customers for your small business?

Our workshops are designed for small and start-up businesses and people turning hobbies into businesses. They take place at our office in Danderyd, north of Stockholm and help you grow your business. Below are the sessions we are running this coming autumn:

• Social media: how to use social media to get clients. Wednesday 12:30-14:30: 19th Sept, 17th Oct
  

 

• Business blogging: what could blogging do for your business and how to do it. Wednesday 12:30-14:30: 26th Sept, 24th Oct
  

 

• SEO: ​how to get more visitors to your website. Wednesday 12:30-14:30: 3rd Oct
  

 

• Instagram masterclass: generate sales using Instagram, intermediate level. Wednesday 12:30-14:30: 10th Oct, 14th Nov
  

 
The cost of these two-hour sessions is 490 kr inc MOMS per person in advance by SWISH to 0709247260. For more information or booking, please get in touch with us at www.myownmarketingcoach.com or email zen@myownmarketingcoach.com.