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.
- 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.
- 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!
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+.
Which do I likebest, or which do I know best?
Now that I disabled the feed of twitter into a special folder on my email, I’ve become more active following, conversing,
goofing offsharing. The Twitter Folder would have been a dandy idea had I accessed it more often than once every once-in-a-while.I know so little about Facebook pages, it’s embarrassing. I use pages to promote blogs I think followers will enjoy, but don’t know how many actually see those posts.
My weekly updates? Gaaaah! When an increase of 2 people “talking about” this yields a 2,350% increase…
‘Nuff said.
I hope life does not interfere with my ability to attend class this evening. I’m off to post this opportunity on my Facebook Page. Hope to see you this evening!
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Looking forward to seeing you tonight. If you have a page, don’t forget to send me the link for the critique. The critiques I’ll be doing tonight I normally charge $50 for, so this is a bargain. http://www.facebook.com/lisahallwilson
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I hope you get to attend class, Gloria. Be sure to shake your cowbell for me on the break! 😀
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That seems like such a good idea. I’m just terrified I’ll make my computer explode if I try anything that involves code. The techy stuff scares me. Maybe I’ll read the instructions three more times and see if I can understand it. 🙂
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I’m not a techie either Emma – but this is pretty easy 😀 Give it a try.
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Where do you store stuff like this … the HTML Code? I could use it once and then lose where it is. Would love to attend tonight but really confused as Platform by Michael Hyatt is on as well. What time are you doing this?
My real blog is http://www.janiscox.com but I can’t seem to link in with in on these types of comments. Only allows, wordpress.com, Twitter, Facebook. So I am linking with my wordpress.com blog Under the Cover of Prayer.
Blessings,
Janis
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Janis, if you go to Gravitar.com, it will allow you to create an account that you can use on WordPress blogs. That way you get your real-live blog showing when people click on your name.
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The webinar is at 7pm EST.
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I’m in Central time and I’m not sure I can get back for it. Rats! I’ve been hearing such great things about your class. (I’m taking the twitter class right now.) If I do make it back in time, can I register at the last minute?
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As far as I know. 😀
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Just had it confirmed: registration is open until 5pm EST
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So sorry I missed it! Family emergency and I never did make it back. Will just have to sign up for your class. 🙂 (It was on my list to do next!)
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That is a swell tip about the share button. As the admin of Running from Hell with El, I’ve realized (along with my other admin page friends) that the last Facebook redo makes sharing stuff like blogs and pictures not nearly as efficacious. FB has shrunk a page’s audience reach on shared items by more than 75%. There is however, a way around that. It’s to copy and paste a large bit of text onto a status update, with attribution of course, and let your fans/followers know that “the link to the post will appear in the first comment below.” This way, you reach the maximum percentage of followers.
And then there’s the time of day issue . . .
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Yes, Lisa…do speak about the “time of day” issue. I hear answers from all over the board.
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Last fall there was quite a stink about a possible change in the Edgerank algorithm reducing Page’s reach. Most of the experts have agreed that didn’t happen. Facebook did make it easier to report spam from pages right from newsfeeds (whether the post was actually spam or not), and FB assigned a lot more weight than before to negative feedback. Add that to a mass deletion of spam/bot accounts, and many pages saw a significant decrease in their reach.
The time of day stuff relates to this issue of reach. It’s unrealistic to expect to reach all of your fans all of the time. That presupposes that all of your fans check FB everyday (and they don’t), that they’re on at the same as you’re posting (nobody is on 24hrs a day), and that they’re all equally engaged with your content (and they’re not). The engagement rate on an average page is 2%. I think shooting for an engagement rate of 20% is fantastic and with solid effort and good strategy doable and realistic – there’s only one George Takei with his more than 100% engagement rate.
To figure out your engagement rate, divide the number of fans by the number talking about this and multiply by 100.
Hope that helps.
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Thanks! I plan to use that code, what a great idea.
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Awesome. Glad it was useful.
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Sounds so cool, Lisa! I feel fairly comfortable with my personal Fb account, but my author page…? I’m sort of hopeless. And don’t even get me started on trying to bop back and forth between the two! How fast-paced will it be tonight? Would I be able to keep up if I’m not very tech-y?
Thanks,
Kathy
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Absolutely. Everything’s step by step 😀
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Is there still time to sign up and send you the link to my page to critique?
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Yep – registration is open until 5pm EST – 2 hours left.
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Cool, I just signed up. No place on there to send you my Fb link, and no instructions on how to hook up to the class. Is that info coming in a confirmation email? (Sorry, Jenny, to blogjack your site with petty little details!).
Thanks!
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Should have got an email – but I have a details email I’ll send your way too. I’ve got your page – no worries.
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A comment just snuck in under Emma Burcart’s thread. It was hiding in WordPress. 🙂
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I LOVE THIS POST! Mostly because Lisa gave us breakdowns of the screenshots and code writing. Thank you from those of us who are still convinced our computers will explode if we hit more than one button at a time! LOL
So helpful!
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I know…Isn’t she fantabulous??!
The poor thing got knocked offline in the middle of her class by a thunderstorm. I think I heard her screaming all the way from SoCal…
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LOL – you kill me, Jenny. I was actually very sad. Had to reschedule for next Tuesday same time.
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Does this mean you could accept some more enrollments from some of the people who were late to the party??!
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Maybe 😛 I’ll have registration opened up again until Monday night.
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We all were just glad Lisa didn’t get zapped by a lightning bolt, LOL.
Hmm, a Canadian thunderstorm in January…must have been because I was the only one with the camera turned on. The heavens were protesting…”Turn off the camera, for the love of all that’s holy!” Sheesh. 😉
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LOL – you’re funny. Ugh – freakish weather though. Lived in Canada my entire life – never seen a thunderstorm in January. Just plain weird. This much rain with frozen ground is a recipe for flooded basements though. Not cool. I’m dry, but lots of other people aren’t.
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Nice info. Thanks!
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Ack! I’m SO behind in my blog reading that I missed the class last night but I’m signing up for the one tomorrow. Thanks for posting about it!
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Awesome! Looking forward to it.
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Hi Lisa,
Nice to see you over here.
I’m trying to get up my nerve to signup on Facebook.
Now I’m one step closer.
Thanks,
Tracy 🙂
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