Facebook Magic, Part 2 ~ From FB Goddess, Lisa Hall-Wilson

Just before Halloween, we had our first Facebook-palooza with Lisa Hall Wilson. We learned tons of fun tricks and y’all got the inside scoop on her Facebook classes for WANA International.

This post is even better. This time, she’s running TWO classes. They’re short and they’re this week so you don’t have to wait for them.

1. 10 Essentials for Your Writer/Author Facebook Page tonight. Everyone who signs up for the course can submit their page for a chance at a live critique during the webinar.
2. Using Your Facebook Profile to Build Platform is on Thursday night. Lisa is offering this course because so many people tell her they don’t want a page, they want to use their profile. Bring your questions.

Take it away, my Facebook Goddess…

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Woot! I got invited back to More Cowbell. Ding ding ding.  (OK – I asked to come back, but let’s not quibble.) 😀

I realize that not everybody considers Facebook their happy place, but I do. In true WANA spirit, I’m here to tell you about a fun techie trick you can use to make Facebook a happier place for you too.

Bloggers have complained that many sharing plugins slow their site too much. This tip is a great workaround.

This isn’t a new feature, it’s been around for a while, but seems to be gaining in popularity. Many bloggers now are embedding Tweet This links in their blog posts on quote-able lines. I think this is a great idea, but Twitter isn’t my happy place (Jenny may have a different opinion).

You can also do this with Facebook – sort of. You can’t share specific quotes with friends on Facebook, but you can create a quick Share This On Facebook link which will share the entire blog post.

I first learned about this tiny bit of magic code here. Really simple.

Below you can see where the link takes you. As long as the user is logged into Facebook, it’s easy peasy. This doesn’t require the user to grant an app any odious permissions – like posting on all your friends’ walls, etc. Everything is customize-able right here.

Here’s the code. Feel free to copy and paste this into the html or text box of your blog (make sure you edit it using the tips farther down first).

<a href=”http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://www.lisahallwilson.com/2013/01/23/top-10-ways-to-celebrate-valentines-day-on-the-cheap/“>Share This On Facebook</a>

Note: In case that color doesn’t come through on your browser, I’ve broken it down below in the bullet points.

Here’s how that code looks on a web page.

Let’s break down how this code works so you can make it work for you.

• The bits in red are the post link – so substitute your blog link there.
  Ex: http://www.lisahallwilson.com/2013/01/23/top-10-ways-to-celebrate-valentines-day-on-the-cheap/
• The bits in green are the instructions for Facebook – so don’t change that. Careful not to lose any of the weird symbols or it won’t work.
  Ex: <a href=”http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=
• The bits in blue are the hyperlinked words that appear in the blog post. You can make this say whatever you like.
  Ex: Share This On Facebook

Cool bananas, right!

I have a fun heads up for writers/authors who are using Facebook to build platform. A new feature is being rolled out (slowly) to pages that I think is pretty exciting.

When Facebook changed their layout in early 2012, they made conversation very difficult on pages. Now, they’re trying to restore that two way conversation everybody loved. Here’s a screenshot.

You see that Reply button? Watch for that!

Facebook’s “threaded comments”

This is from author Brandilyn Collins’ Facebook page last week. This is a medium sized page (just over 3000 fans) so hopefully we’ll begin seeing this rolled out on a larger scale very soon. This is very exciting and will really change the dynamics on pages and help build community.

Hope you found these tips helpful.

Big thanks to Jenny for letting me get my Facebook geek on. As Jenny mentioned above, I’m teaching 2 short and sweet (and cheap) classes on using Facebook to build platform this week, and I would love to have you there!

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Wowzers!

To recap – here’s links to Lisa’s classes:
10 Essentials for Your Writer/Author Facebook Page tonight.
Using Your Facebook Profile to Build Platform is on Thursday night.

Which social media platform do you like best and why? Do you have Facebook questions for Lisa? Shake your cowbell in the comments, y’all! ~ Jenny

About Lisa

Lisa writes dark fantasy novels that honestly face harsh struggles, where life is gritty and messy, and change how a character thinks, acts — who they are.

In addition to fiction writing, Lisa is a freelance writer published across Canada specializing in marketing copy for faith-based non-profits, and short non-fiction pieces for magazines and newspapers. She specializes in interviews, profiles, and social justice initiatives. Lisa is passionate about making this world a better place one get-off-your-butt-and-do-something article at a time.

Lisa has won awards at the Canadian Church Press, the Canadian Christian Writing Awards, and her co-written blog (with Marcy Kennedy) was nominated 3 times at the 2011 Canadian Weblog Awards. Check out Lisa’s freelance portfolio here or learn more about Lisa Wilson Communications here.

You can also find her Blogging Through The Fire each week or on Facebook, Twitter and Google+.