How to schedule posts in Facebook

Facebook’s scheduling tool includes the ability to add dynamic links and images. Other schedulers I’ve tested do not do a good job of including these features, so this is a big improvement.  I tested the Facebook scheduler today and found it to work very well. The only thing missing, in my opinion, is a queue of scheduled posts.  Currently, once the post is scheduled it disappears into the hinterlands, not to be seen again until it appears on your wall. I want the ability to go into my scheduled posts and edit or delete, if necessary.

The tool allows us to schedule posts up to six months in advance. Without the ability to edit I fear many community managers may be hesitant to use the feature. I know personally I check my Twitter queue several times a day and move posts around depending on what other news comes up that may supercede the post I have scheduled.

UPDATE – scheduled posts are displayed in your page’s activity log. They can be deleted only, not edited. Find them by clicking manage>use activity log.  Thanks to friend and fellow social media professional Dan Toland for the tip  (check out his Ohio Farm Bureau FB page - it rocks).

Here’s how to use the tool

• Compose your post
• Include your link or image
• Click the clock icon in the inline status bar
• Add the year, the month, the day and the time for the post

Note for page admins: If you haven’t included the Founding date for your company in your Timeline milestones the scheduler will not be available. To fix that, add a new post, click milestone and add your “Founded On” date. Include a photo of your corporate HQ or your logo to make this post interesting to your followers, as it will show up in their newsfeeds. You’ll then be able to schedule posts. Here’s a screenshot of the feature.

Facebook Page Admin Roles

Facebook also rolled out today the ability to set roles and permissions for Facebook page admins. Now you can set up to five different page admin abilities, giving various rights to publish to your page admins. Find this tool under Edit Page>Admin Roles.

Admin types include:

• Manager
• Content Creator
• Moderator
• Advertiser
• Insights Analyst

This chart, located on Facebook’s help section , explains the level of access for each role. Facebook’s given us the ability to set access to everything from insights only to the ability to create posts only to full access. This is an important enhancement, as all page admins had the ability to purchase advertising under the old settings. Now, page admins can create content and moderate posts without the ability to spend money.   If you have multiple page admins, this new ability is a big improvement. Here’s a screenshot of the chart on Facebook’s help section of the various roles and their abilities.

Image from Facebook Help

What do  you think? Do you plan to use these new features? Tell me how in the comments!

Opinions vary on this topic. There are some that have decided to delete their boards altogether, like Kirsten in this article:

A Lawyer Who is Also a Photographer Just Deleted All Her Pinterest Boards Out Of Fear - Business Insider Magazine

Curiously, I recently tried to visit the Pinterest account of Evan Sharp, Pinterest designer and Co-Founder and found this 404 not found message:

Hmmmm. Not sure if this is due to copyright issues or not, but curious nonetheless.

I was able to find plenty of articles that cautioned business owners yet still recommended ways to pin appropriately without violating copyright laws, such as:

What You Should Know About Pinterest and Copyright – PC World

Pinterest Copyright Legal Issues – Mashable

Here, Forbes Magazine weighs in on the Fair Use Defense argument for copyright issues.

So here’s what I’ve decided to do.

I’m going to continue pinning with caution. I’m creating my own content whenever possible and using the “when in doubt” rule. If I don’t have permission to use it on my blog, I’m not going to pin it on Pinterest either. I”m also making sure to comment on pins I’m sharing from original sources.

I’m thinking twice before repinning. When I first joined Pinterest I repinned with abandon – not thinking to click through each pin to make sure it lead to an original or credible source. If I liked the image I shared it. I learned my lesson when I repinned an image that led users back to an image with a virus. Thankfully a user pointed out my error, albeit on my client’s Facebook page. Duh! From that moment on I realized I should be checking each pin BEFORE mindlessly repinning it. Lesson learned.

I’m pinning from other sources I’ve created. For example, I have a photo blog on Tumblr that explores my passion for gardening. I’m pinning images from it more often.

I’m making sure the original source is credited. I share infographics on personal branding and social media best practices quite often as well and I’m taking more care to make sure they are pinned from the original source – or I’m repinning them from that source. If Mashable pins one of their images, for example, I’m repinning from their original pin, as I’m pretty sure they are ok with me sharing their content.

If the original site has a PinIt button I’m going to use it. Sites like Pottery Barn stand to benefit a great deal from users repinning their images.  Their website has a Pinterest button clearly displayed as one of their social connection methods and I’m going to assume that if a site includes a PinIt button they want you to use it. Although this doesn’t offer full protection against copyright issues, I’m going to guess that sites like these are probably not going to go after users of their content.

I’m going through my boards and removing images I’m not sure fit these rules. As I learn more I’m going to trim and delete until I’m comfortable with what I’ve shared. This will be an ongoing process as the landscape for social media sharing and copyright continues to change.

All that being said I’ve already written a couple posts on using Pinterest for Business and on how to schedule tweets from Pinterest if you’d like to learn more.

How are you handling copyright issues on your Pinterest boards? I’d appreciate your comments here.

Buffer App for Scheduled Social Media Posts

The technique combines Twitter and Pinterest with Buffer App for scheduling the tweeted pins. If you’re not familiar with Buffer App it’s a great tool to publish articles to your Facebook and Twitter feeds right from your browser using their plug in. Sign up for a free account and visit their Apps and Extras page for the Chrome and Firefox extensions. There’s also Buffer for iPhone, Buffer for your If This Then That programs and lots more. Once you get your account set up and linked to your Twitter and Facebook accounts you can begin adding posts to your Buffer.

Scheduling Tweeted Pins

Buffer App is cool enough, but using it for scheduled tweets from Pinterest is even cooler. Here’s how it works. First, upload your pin to Pinterest and include your targeted tweep by @mentioning them in the pin description. Here’s an example:

 Once you’ve pinned the image, go to your Pinterest board and double click it to bring it up. Pinterest includes social sharing buttons on the right side of each individual pin as you see in the photo below.

Next, select the tweet button and bring up the Twitter connection. Here’s where the magic happens. See how Buffer App is integrated into the tweet function? You can select it and add it to your buffer, thus scheduling the tweeted pin. Your targeted follower gets an @mention and you schedule several out over the course of the day to engage your tweeps. It’s that easy!

Do you have any methods you’ve discovered for scheduling posts? Share them with me here!

]]> http://carminemedia.com/2012/04/26/how-to-schedule-tweets-from-pinterest-using-buffer-app/feed/ 1 39.325144 -83.688316 39.325144 -83.688316 carminemedia Using Buffer App in Pinterest Pinned image scheduled tweet for pinterest http://carminemedia.com/2012/04/15/whats-new-this-week-in-social-media/ http://carminemedia.com/2012/04/15/whats-new-this-week-in-social-media/#comments Sun, 15 Apr 2012 16:00:30 +0000 Sue Reynolds http://carminemedia.com/?p=1024 ]]> Things change fast in the digital world. Here’s a few things that caught my attention this past week and what’s ahead moving forward into this week.

Google + has a new look

Google Plus rolled out a new look and feel to their platform last week, moving toward what they say is a “more beautiful Google” in their official blog.  Here’s their video on the changes. See what you think.

Social Media Strategy Summit

I’m headed to the Social Media Strategy Summit in Chicago this coming week and will be live tweeting from the events. The sold out event is ranked number 2 of the top 5 business events to attend this year, so I’m very excited about being there. Speakers from Intel, Bit.ly and McDonald’s will share their knowledge in a number of seminars and break out sessions. Check future blog posts to find out what I learned.

Facebook buys Instagram

Reports are that Facebook purchased the photo sharing tool Instagram for $1 billion in both cash and stock this week. In an attempt to build on the photo sharing already inherent in Facebook, the purchase of Instagram will allow users to share photos based around their interests as well as share them to other social networks. The app has a number of filters that allow you to transform the look of your photos, then share them with your network. Instagram has been available on the iOS platform since October of 2010, but it just launched an Android version last week which I downloaded and am anxious to try.

Pinterest Introduces Board Covers

Now you can choose which photo displays as the cover on your Pinterest boards. Hover your mouse over the board and choose “edit board cover.” Scroll through the photos on that board and choose your photo. Marketers should use this opportunity to display their most important messages in this space.

What new developments have caught your attention?

You are Engaged in an Ongoing Conversation with Fans

When starting out on a social media campaign you may first feel as though you’re talking to an empty room. There may be little engagement from fans and few clickthroughs to your website.  Now is not the time to decide social media doesn’t work. Just like I write in Social Media Marketing is Like Dating, relationships take time to build and develop trust. As you build your audience you should see a gradual increase of likes, comments, retweets and shares. You’ll get to know your audience and what they enjoy. You’ll find yourself thinking of them when you read a certain article or produce an original content piece. You’ll become part of a larger conversation with fans and followers and you’ll recognize their unique personalities and traits. Don’t give up too soon as this process can take months to develop.

Fans Tell their Friends about You

Maybe this process starts with the Twitter Follow Friday tradition, or perhaps your Facebook page is recommended by friends in the beginning. Take advantage of these recommendations to help your account grow. Remember to recommend the pages and people you find valuable too. Social media, like dating, is a two way street.  You need to recommend others if you want them to recommend you.

People Tell You They Recognize You from Social Media

You know that feeling when you buy a car and then start seeing that same make and model all around you? You never noticed it before, but now it seems like it’s everywhere.  That’s brand recognition. The same thing happens when you engage regularly in social media spaces. If you’ve done a good job of branding your account and are actively engaging in these spaces, people start to recognize your logo and your name. Then, when they see your store in their neighborhood, your products on shelves or your brand name on your collateral materials they’re already familiar with you. That’s how trust in a brand builds.

Your Conversion Rate is Growing

I don’t necessarily mean sales here. How you measure a conversion is unique to your business. A conversion from Facebook may be a subscription to a blog. A Twitter conversion may be a Facebook page like, or a newsletter sign up. Conversations can also be:

• Donations to a cause
• Downloads of a white paper
• Requests for information
• Commitment to volunteer

However you measure a conversion, as you continue to execute your strategy you should see this rate increasing.

You are Having Fun

You’ve heard this one before. While social media for business is hard work, you should also be truly enjoying your engagement with your fans and followers. People involved in social media are social in nature, so their online interactions should reflect their offline values.  Use your sense of humor and be interesting. Remember your job is to entertain and add value to your fans’ newsfeeds. So if you’re not having fun what makes you think your fans are? Whether you’re writing a blog on a topic about which you are passionate or posting a silly photo of your business, you should be enjoying the interaction as much as your fans do.

How do you measure success in your strategy? I’d love to hear from you.

Facebook rolled out its Timeline for Brand pages today in conjunction with it’s Facebook Marketing Conference. If you admin a brand page you probably noticed the message on top of your page allowing you to preview the new layout before it’s applied on March 30, 2012.  Here’s what it means for marketers:

New Page Layout

If you’ve activated Timeline for your personal page you already know what it looks and feels like. There’s space for a cover photo at the top and the page is divided into two columns – posts on the left and activity on the right. According to presenters at Facebook for Marketers today there will be the ability to feature a post at the top too, so if you have an important message it won’t get pushed down by other messages in your feed.

Use the cover photo to your advantage. This is the place to highlight your brand and any campaigns going on in your business. Keep in mind the Facebook  terms of service and don’t place any calls to action or contact information in the timeline cover photo though. Instead, place that information in your About section. Ideal dimensions for your cover photo are 850px high x 315px wide. Remember to leave a space for your profile pic on the left side.

Milestones

Just as with Timeline for profiles, Timeline for brands will allow admins to add milestones to the page. Add the date your company was founded and any important changes along the way. People like to connect with behind the scenes announcements and photos and see important milestones along the way. Pages that depict these important events continually have higher engagement rates so make sure to add these important events to your page.

Messages

Fans will now have the ability to message brand pages directly. This is an important update and a long time coming! Now our fans can connect with us privately rather than by posting messages directly on the wall. This feature will be especially helpful for customer service issues. Be sure to respond to any messages your receive quickly – just as with posts on your wall.

Reduced Visibility and Function for Tabs

This could be the biggest disadvantage for Timeline for brands. Facebook tabs are now moved from the left sidebar to across the top and we’ve lost the ability to set a default landing tab.  There is room for three additional apps above the fold. Since it’s possible to swap positions with other apps (Likes, Map etc.) my recommendation is to place your three most important apps after photos and assume the rest won’t be visited.  The disadvantage here is that even with this placement they are overshadowed by the cover photo and are no longer the first thing new visitors see when they come to your page.

Marketers using reveal tabs to offer discounts or coupons to fans will likely see less engagement on these apps as visitors will have to click through themselves. Since most visitors will not return to your page once liked, there isn’t much room for engagement here. Takeaway lesson: it’s more important than ever to engage through the newsfeed. Also use your cover photo for important messaging or campaigns rather than relying on landing tabs.

Friend Activity

When fans visit your page they’ll now see their friends interactions with your page near the top of the feed. That will give a much more personal feel to their experience with your page and is designed to help reinforce that word of mouth referral power. Remember though that a negative mention will appear there too, so as always it is important to address issues as they occur.

Have you activated your brand page yet? What are your thoughts? Comment here or send me a message on my new Facebook brand page at Carmine Media.

Carmine Media on Pinterest

If your business relies on driving traffic to your website to increase sales consider joining Pinterest. If you’re not familiar with Pinterest, it is a social network where users to share their interests by “pinning” images or videos to their own or friend’s boards. Remember how you decorated your locker in high school? Well now you can share those clippings on Pinterest and use them to drive traffic to your website. Of all the social networks this one is truly the easiest to get set up and running.

Getting started on Pinterest

1. Go to Pinterest.com and request an invite. The response is usually fast, within one day or so.
2. Add the “Pin it” button to your browser
3. Start Pinning

Connect and Brand your Account

Currently Pinterest allows users to connect using either a Facebook or Twitter account. Note to businesses: the option to share your Pinterest activity is not available to Facebook pages, only personal profiles. When you set up your Pinterest account be sure to connect with your business Twitter account to allow easy sharing to your Twitter followers.

Brand your Pinterest account the same way you’ve branded your other social accounts. Under the settings tab add your website, a keyword rich description and your standard social profile picture.

Create and Build your Boards

Just as with any social network it is important to flesh out your content before actively seeking out followers. Explore the platform and pin images you like and those that represent the type of content your customers will find interesting. It probably goes without say, but make sure your images are visually appealing so users will want to share them. Go through your website using the “Pin it” button and organize your interesting images onto a board. This is where the platform becomes a powerful traffic driver to your site. Users will be able to click through that image from Pinterest right back to your website. Keep this in mind when adding future images to your site or blog. Make sure they are pinnable and interesting to Pinterest users!

Build your Pinterest Following

Start following users you hope will follow you back. Follow some of the Pinterest power users so you can see how they’re leveraging the network. Mashable, Etsy and Folk Magazine (debuted November 2011) are good resources for inspiration. You can see the beginnings of my boards at Carmine Media here.  Pin a few images every day for maximum exposure. The network is growing fast and you’ll be surprised by how quickly folks start repinning your images. Cross connect by adding a Pinterest follow button to your website so visits know you’re using the platform.

Become a Pinterest Thought Leader

By posting your own and curating other’s content you can become a subject matter expert on the topics most interesting to your customers. For example, if you’re a real estate broker, pin images of beautifully staged rooms so sellers can get ideas for home staging. If you’re a pet groomer, pin images of cute animals (there are plenty to be found) and show dogs being groomed. Make sure to add links to your image descriptions, use keyword rich text and know that Pinterest supports the use of hashtags. Remember too, as with any other social network there are rules of engagement known as Pin Etiquette . Make sure to check that out.

Happy Pinning!

The best way to get a handle on using Pinterest for business is to try it yourself. Sign up for a personal account, connect it to your Facebook page and start pinning images that inspire you. You’ll see quickly how all that activity can translate into buzz around your brand.

How are you using Pinterest for business? Share your thoughts, ideas, and any boards you love here with me.

Wardrobe Malfunction?

Madonna remained fully clothed during her halftime show, but I’m sorry I can’t say the same for the women in GoDaddy’s ads. Their propensity for using scantily clad (or was that naked) women in their Superbowl ads has now become all too expected. Really? Do we need to worry about our kids watching advertising for domain names and hosting plans? My favorite tweet about the ads: “Maybe Danika needs the money in order to sell out her entire gender.” GoDaddy, you can do better. The sad thing is, their customer service and products are excellent, and I use them despite their advertising. What I don’t understand is, why spend all that money to alienate half your potential audience? Fail.

Weird QR Code Placement

GoDaddy again. Did any of you notice during the second GoDaddy commercial that a QR code popped up in the left lower corner? Since I generally watch TV with my QR app ready to go (sarcasm intended) I wasn’t taken by surprise. Seriously though, while QR codes can be a great way to drive traffic to your landing page, Facebook page or any place else you’d like to send visitors for information and connection, there are places where they aren’t appropriate. Let me list a few here:

• Billboards
• Websites ( people, use a a link please)
• TV commercials

Maybe this particular QR code takes you to a page where you can complain about the offensive use of women in their ads? Doubt it.

Volkswagon Weird Transition

In an attempt to play off of last year’s successful Darth Vader ad, Volkswagon forces (no pun intended, well maybe) Darth Vader into what would otherwise be a fun and uplifting story about our dog hero getting into shape for his run with the automobile. Cut to an alien bar? Made no sense. End with the dog.

What were your thoughts on the ads this year? I’d love to hear your comments.

What is a Content Calendar?

A content calendar is an plan for publishing content to all your social media streams. The format is up to you. I prefer using a spreadsheet, but a Word document, Google calendar, or any other tool will work. If you’re sharing the calendar with other community managers a shared Google Document or calendar using any of these formats is a useful tool.

Your calendar should contain an overview of the topics, the dates, the content and links to relevant information. Include notes on social objects such as photos or videos as well.

Plan for Creating your Content Calendar

Calendars can be set up yearly (very ambitious) or weekly or monthly. If you decide to use a yearly calendar plan to update and change regularly as ideas and topics come up. Remember nothing is set in stone. At the very least, decide on what you plan to post this week to get started. Then as this planning becomes a habit, look farther into the future.

Deciding on Content

Start by looking at your business calendar. What events occur regularly that you want to incorporate into your strategy? Do you have monthly meetings, are there community events you want to promote, do you have a regular schedule of marketing activities? Add these to your calendar and plot out the dates. Remember to include holidays and special events.

Now search for relevant articles, social objects (videos, photos, infographics) and links to your own website to support the content. If you’re new to infographics, Visual.ly is a great place to start. If your strategy includes a blog post per week, this is where you decide on the general topic for those posts. A word or two, a link to an article and an idea for a supporting graphic should suffice at this point.

The Big Picture

Remember, a content calendar is a “big picture” document. Drill down for details as the dates approach. The most important thing to remember is, whatever you are sharing, keep it social and keep your audience in mind. What will add value to their day? What are they seeking?

Put in the effort up front on creating your calendar and you won’t be scrambling for content or neglecting your social spaces and your community down the line.

How do you decide what to share with your community?

Photo courtesy of Plindberg on Flickr

While 2011 was a banner year for social media growth in the business world, those of us in the profession are still struggling with measuring the results of our efforts. In the hopes that 2012 will bring us functional tools for analyzing all that data, here’s my early wish list for Santa in 2012. If you have a recommendation for a tool for any of the items mentioned on my list, feel free to comment and post your links. I welcome your suggestions! And Santa, I promise to be good all year.

Fan Interest Graphing

Facebook insights, for example, gives us information on our fan page demographics such as age, gender, where likes came from (external referrers) and such, there’s still no good way to see and graph the interests (likes) of our fans. Say for example, a majority of your fans are interested in skiing. Providing content on the topic could help keep them engaged and sharing. So far none of the free services I’ve found give us a way to access this data so it’s included here on my wish list.

Social Media Dashboard

While tools like Tweetdeck, Hootsuite, Social Mention and Google Alerts allow us to track and analyze Key Performance Indicators (KPI), I’d like a tool that allows me to aggregate all my social media accounts and posts on one dashboard and then share that dashboard with fans and followers. If you’re interested in tracking dashboards, Barry Hurd’s blog post on Social Media Dashboards give a good outline of the tools available now for tracking conversations. Here’s your chance to make a suggestion if you have a favorite tool for tracking, or for setting up a magazine-like page for all your streams.

Trending Data

I’d like a way to see what was trending in, say, New Orleans, for a date in the past. Twitter’s trending tools allow us to see what’s trending now, and what’s trending in a particular location, but not both location and date specific. At least, I’ve not yet found a good tool to do this. Any suggestions?

Ranking System by Industry

Even though there’s a lot of eye rolling when it comes to discussing metrics like Klout in the social media communities, it does offer some valuable insights. The problem lies in measuring everyone against everyone else, Justin Beiber included. I’d like to know how my clients measure against others in their industry. Since Klout uses the influence of your followers as part of the metric, B2B companies looking to engage with small, niche businesses will naturally have lower Klout scores than B2C companies able to engage highly influential followers. Again, if you have a suggestion feel free to let me know.

Social Media Workflow Tools

I know that Hootsuite allows for post coordination under its paid version, which I’ve not tried. I have heard good things about BufferApp.Com and it looks like collaboration tools are included in the free version. Scheduling posts to fan pages is part of the paid version. While the free dashboard Tweetdeck does allow scheduling to all accounts collaboration tools are absent. Any suggestions?

As the year progresses I’m sure my list will change as fast as the landscape of social media changes. As always, I welcome your comments and ideas here, on Twitter @suereynolds or on Facebook.

Happy New Year!