Monthly Archives: December 2011
Taylor-Made Weddings FREE Facebook Page Assesment
Another FREE promotion, offered on my Facebook page to assess to your business pages. Taylor Proctor owner of Taylor-Made Weddings and Events asked me to review her page. So lets gets started…
Taylor-Made Weddings and Events
Needs improvement:
1. No welcome page/landing tab
This is your chance to WOW your fans before they even enter your page! Your website is beautiful and a welcome page is a branch off of your website. Your web guy could put something together very quickly or you could try wix.com which I am a big fan of since it’s free.
2. Wall post settings
Fans are allowed to post on your wall which is great however nobody can see them due to your page settings. A savvy user will know to click ‘everyone’ just under the picture strip but most users don’t know about this feature and user posts are lost. To change this setting go to your edit page section, then manage permissions tab, then the ‘wall tab shows’ drop down box should say ‘all posts’. Don’t forget to save.
3. Page owner
You are the owner of this business and it’s even named after you so why not feature yourself as the “page owner”? Many page owners are not aware of this feature and it doesn’t always apply to every page. In your case, you ARE the business and your clients need to know who they are dealing with. To change this setting, go to ‘edit page’, then to the ‘featured’ tab on the left side of the page and add your self as the page owner. You can have more than one page owner if needed.
4. Video
There were a couple of videos hidden on your page but I would suggest lots more! People are visual and your style is so great, so why not show it off! Set up a YouTube channel and then connect your YouTube to your Facebook and create a tab for it.
5. Content
Your overall content is great but always ask yourself ‘why would anyone want to come to my page?‘. I’m in no way a wedding expert of course, but I would imagine most brides are looking for wedding themes and ideas and clever ways to save money. While you do have some great articles and blog posts about those very things I would include more tips or ideas. I always tell people to give away *just* enough free information so they don’t need your services, but then when they do need someone, you will be the first one they think of. 
The good stuff:
1. Picture strip
It looks like there is an attempt to use your picture strip at the top of the page to your advantage using your logo and a tag line ‘elegant, natural, simple’. The problem is the pictures randomly change order so your message with your pictures gets a little messy. Maybe add 2 more words to go along with it to fill in the spaces or use really amazing pictures to fill in those holes. Otherwise it looks like a banner add that was chopped up.
2. Logo/profile picture
I love your logo and the fact that your profile picture is so big! Only suggest I would make here is, since it is so big, maybe add a phone number, email, or website to it. If you wanted to reformat the whole thing I would use your logo but in a horizontal form instead of verticle with either a picture of you or maybe a QR code that leads to a great video of the best wedding you have planned.
3. About me
I love that you are taking advantage of the about me section and put your website first to make it more accessible.
4. Featured likes
It looks like you are featuring the buisness pages you work with in this section. Hopefully they are doing the same for you!
5. Content
Testimonials, stories, fan engagement, pictures, and lots of article and blog sharing. Good stuff! Your page gives an overall warm fuzzy feeling.
6. Photos
Great, great pictures! Again, people are visual and showing what you can do for them and ‘painting the picture’ is awesome! I love your style and I love the fact that you give credits (and link to their pages) in your pictures to the photographers, flowers, etc.
Overall Taylor, your page looks really good and you’re doing well!
P.S I love your website, who created it?
Good luck!
Click the pic!
Free Facebook Page Assessment – Cedar City Real Estate 411
Another FREE promotion, offered on my Facebook page to assess to your business pages. Derek Morton with Mountain View Title asked me to review his page. So lets gets started…
Needs improvement:
1. No welcome page/landing tab
Actually it looks like there was an attempt to set one up through wix.com however, there is nothing on the welcome page. Also, the welcome page is not set as your default landing tab (maybe because it wasn’t finished?) but can be set under the ‘edit page’ feature and then the manage permissions tab.
2. Logo and page name
I was a little confused because the page name ‘Cedar City Real Estate 411‘ is different than the logo/profile picture which is Mountain View Title and Escrow. After looking through the page I realized you work for the title company but the page is to promote general interest in Cedar City Real Estate. A couple things I would touch on here, since not everyone knows where Cedar City is located, I would change the name to include the city and state. The problem with that is since you have more than 100 fans, your page name can not be changed. So my suggestion would be to either change the logo to go with the name or include ‘Cedar City, UT’ in the logo.
3. Featured likes
The list of 5 pages on the left side of the page is the ‘featured likes’ section. A business page can like other pages, then ‘feature’ them on their page. This is great to promote other partners or favorite pages. You are using yours but after refreshing several times it seems as though you have not picked a select few and I never even saw Mountain View Title in there. You can select your featured pages in the edit page section under the ‘featured tab’ then check mark the boxes of the pages you want to promote.
4. About me
List your company’s website first on the “about me” section which will help funnel people over to the website. Making that link and a phone number easily accessible is a plus.
5. Wall posts
Fans are allowed to post on your wall which is great however nobody can see them due to your page settings. A savvy user will know to click ‘everyone’ just under the picture strip but most users don’t know about this feature and user posts are lost. To change this setting go to your edit page section, then manage permissions tab, then the ‘wall tab shows’ drop down box should say ‘all posts’. Don’t forget to save.
6. Content
As in any page there will be good and bad content. My overall question is what (or who) are you promoting? Are you promoting Derek Morton with Mountain View Title? Real estate in Cedar City, UT? Mountain View Title? Cedar City? All four? Who is your target audience? Since there were no home listings, my guess is you are not promoting that side of it. From what I can tell you are promoting the mortgage industry which, as we all know has not been fabulous in recent years and quite frankly is not the most fun topic to discuss. No doubt you have your work cut out So my suggestion is to keep it light, fun and entertaining which I did see several interesting and fun articles. Talk to your fans and ask what information they want or need. Ask questions and see what kinds of questions get comments, what works and what doesn’t.
7. Picture strip
Use your picture strip at the top of the page to your advantage. Any picture you post on your wall gets thrown up there but you can manage those pictures and keep what you want on the strip. Just hover over the pic you don’t want and you will have the option to delete. Use descriptive pictures and logos to tell a story or convey a message.
The good stuff:
1. Videos
I love the video explanations and the testimonials! Do at least one a week, post it on your blog, and a YouTube channel, then put a YouTube channel tab on your page.
2. Good content
Several funny posts, jokes and interesting articles. Especially ‘6 tips to make your move easier‘ and ‘4 steps to buy again after foreclosure‘. That is the kind of content that gets shared!
Good luck!
Click the pic!
Free Facebook Page Assessment – City of St. George, UT.
As a FREE promotion, I offered on my Facebook page to assess anyone elses page for them if they commented on my post. James Duckett, Technology Services Division Manager for the City of St. George, UT. responded. I have worked for a city department before and understand there are limitations and lots of red tape to do what most companies wouldn’t bat an eye to. So the fact that the city even has an active Facebook page is a huge plus! So lets gets started…
Needs improvement:
1. No welcome page/landing tab
This is your first impression. A welcome page is your opportunity to get their attention, convey a message, and wow them. No welcome page means new fans land on your wall which, depending on what your last post was, could be boring. Welcome pages are easy to create especially if you are a computer guy who knows HTML or iFrames. But if your not that savvy there are plenty of free applications like wix.com or you can always outsource it to your favorite web guy.
2. Business listing
I wasn’t quite sure how you got the City to be listed as a sports club and actually thought that was cute since St. George is known for its outdoorsy venue of rock climbing, hiking, marathons and triathalons. But hopefully you set up the catagory as a local business/place and then sub category as community or government OR under organization/government organization. Good news is that if you set it up wrong you can always change your category under the “edit page” feature. The name is good and says the city and state in the category line since of course there may be more than one St. George (What? Never!). ;) however it would be even better to have the state listed in the title name.
3. Profile picture
I would suggest using a larger logo for the profile picture. It’s too small to read the super cursive script that says St. George and it just gets lost.
4. About me
List the city’s website first on the “about me” section which will help funnel people over to the city website. Making that link easily accessible is a plus.
5. Wall posts
Fans are unable to post on the wall, limiting the engagement. Many cities do this for a number of reasons such as they, don’t want spam, they don’t have anyone full time to monitor the postings, or they don’t want negative feedback or irrelevant posts. The problem is, the city is alienating it’s fans and citizens by doing so. Social media is about people and talking to those people, not at them. Allow them to talk to you and then listen and respond. If there are negative comments, use it as a PR moment and solve the problem.
6. Use applications
The page is a little boring and could be spruced up with other applications. The city has a ton of information like events, department listings, and other city links. Use iFrame pages to create custom tabs to show a list of common referenced numbers or the events tab for upcoming community events. Connect the city’s Twitter and YouTube pages and create tabs for those as well. Make your Facebook page a secondary site to your website. Maybe even include a monthly Mayor’s address on video to post to YouTube and Facebook.
7. Picture strip
Use your picture strip at the top of the page to your advantage. Any picture you post on your wall gets thrown up there but you can manage those pictures and keep what you want on the strip. Just hover over the pic you don’t want and you will have the option to delete. Use descriptive pictures and logos to tell a story or convey a message.
The good stuff:
1. The name
As I said earlier, the name is good and to the point. City and state in the category line which will differentiate you from other similar cities when users are searching for you.
2. Featured Likes
On the left side of the page is the “featured likes” section. You have used this area well and connected with other departments and partners with the city such as the recreation center, police department, and Art Festival.
3. Good content
Frequent posts with links and detailed information is great! Lots of info coming from the city so get it out there!
4. Info tab
A history of the city gives a little trivia to someone who may not even been looking for it. I like it!
5. Pictures
Lots of great pictures from events and around the city, keep em’ coming!
Finally, ask yourself why would anyone look for and then go to the City of St. George’s Facebook page and then add that information. Are they looking for relocation, employment, chamber of commerce, utility department, events, news, phone numbers, the Mayor? Even better…ASK THE FANS.
Good luck!
Click the pic!
25 Signs You Are a Social Media Addict
1) You wake up and reach for your iPhone before turning the alarm clock off
2) It’s 3pm and you just now realize you haven’t eaten anything.
3) You make a deal with yourself to do push ups and sit ups every time you get up from your computer so that you can say you “worked out” today.
4) Your computer over heats every now and then due to the 23 windows you have open on Chrome
5) Your teenager says you use Facebook more than he and his friends combined.
6) You have been the mayor of Walmart, Starbucks, and your church at least once
7) Your ultimate goal is to be the mayor of the Apple store
8 ) You know what a “drive by” is and understand it has nothing to do with guns
9) You have more friends than people you actually know
10) When searching for a business you search Facebook before Google
11) You are slightly bothered when nobody mentions you on #FF
12) “Checking in” is a crucial as buckling your seat belt
13) Your dog has his own Fan page
14) Facebook has warned you against making too many friends, and you were actually scared.
15) Tweeting while in the sauna at the gym is no big deal
16) You don’t understand why anyone would delete their account because they need a break from Facebook
17) Something funny or annoying happens to you and your first thought is to blog/post/tweet about it.
18) You stopped paying attention to Facebook event invites last year
19) You had the new Facebook timeline back in 2011
20) You get excited when you get promoted on Empire Avenue
21) Klout just ticks you off
22) You blog using your phone while on a road trip
23) Halftime means update your status and tweet about how your team is playing, then check in to “on my sofa watching the game” and hope there is a badge for that.
24) You’re thinking you could add a few to this list
25) You will definitely repost/re-tweet this
Click the pic!
