Have you customized your photo strip on your Facebook fan page yet?
It can be a great way to promote your products or services if you know how to use it. It’s that group of the 5 most recent images you’ve uploaded that shows up across the top of your fan page.
Here’s what mine looks like:
As you can see I’ve got three promo boxes in there and two photos. Each time the page reloads, they’ll come up in a random order (which means we can’t create one image stretching across like a banner or it will get jumbled).
So for one fan it will show this:
And for another it will show this:
Mine is setup so that if you click on one of those little promo boxes, you’ll get an image like this:
So it’s got the promo image and below that a link to whatever I’m promoting. Cool, right?
Here’s how to do it.
First, you want to create your images. Because Facebook only displays part of your image, and it’s not exactly the middle, I’d suggest using mine as a guide (where the box part is what shows up in the thumbnail in your photo strip):
Once you’ve created your image, you’re ready to upload it so go to your fan page and in the status box click the “Photo” link:
Next click “Upload a Photo”:
And once you’ve clicked “Browse” and selected your photo, type in your call to action text including a full link (with the http:// at the beginning so it’s clickable) and then click the blue “Share” button.
It will show up like this on your fan page:
And also add itself to your row of thumbnails in the photo strip (see, now mine is in there twice?). Success!
That’s it. Just repeat these steps for each little promo ad you want to show.
Great idea and way to go about that. That photo strip has remained an untapped resource on my biz page because I just haven’t taken the time to put my brain into it! I must admit I have a love/hate relationship with FB, in that there is no customer service available, so I’ve gotten a mindset that it isn’t worth a lot of my time and brain power. What are your thoughts?
Facebook is the #1 source of traffic to my website right now, pretty consistently. So as much as I want to like Twitter better (okay, I DO like Twitter better), Facebook’s worth the time for me.
I don’t spend as much time there as I do Twitter or just networking with bloggers though. I manage it through HootSuite, I do schedule some status updates, and I use NetworkedBlogs to syndicate my blog there.
I also post pretty frequent invitations for fans to subscribe and I work to get them from Facebook back to my blog and onto my list because I know that Facebook can and will delete a page anytime they want, without warning to the owner. So I always remember it’s not something we own, and our focus needs to be our “property” so to speak. :)
Great post, Michelle! With all of the changes coming from Facebook, it’s great to find basic step-by-step instructions on how to deal with some of them. I now have no excuse at all for not dealing with this feature. The ability to use this for marketing and promotion is a wonderul tool for strengthening your company or personal brand to large numbers of FB friends, colleagues and customers.
Great tutorial, Michelle! Also it’s a great idea to occupy the space on the left with an image that says a lot about you and the services that you are providing. Many people do not leverage that space and only have a small logo (Including me, but I am still working on the FB stuff :)
I had a question regarding the photo strip. This basically means that you have to be careful/smart with the images that you upload because they show up and stay there? (I haven’t :) You more or less use that space as a banner on the web site, right?
Hi Michelle,
Great trick, I’ve seen many people are using photo strip to brand their product or blog but didn’t know how to do it. So I’ll try it now on my facebook profile. Thanks for sharing ;)
I know this trick and already using it on facebook profile. BTW thanks for sharing it.
Practical, useful information for optimizing your business presence on Facebook. Should the pics be a specific size?
This size/positioning worked well for me: https://michelleshaeffer.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Facebook-Blogging-Mentorshi.png
Great post Michelle. Thanks for sharing.
I hope you’re having a great weekend
Your friend across the pond
David
I didn’t know that we can customize the photo strip in FB but hmm that would be a great idea. I’m pretty sure it would boost my sales up this time.
Frank @ solar power for the home
What a SMART idea!
It’s effective and the segments POP especially if you select photos that speak to and pique the interest of your clients/customers!
Michelle, thanks for sharing this great use of marketing psychology :)
Ciao,
~Miriam
I’ve been trying to figure out how to utilize this space — thank you! I am also going to do this with the photo strip on my Google + profile and page too!! I am working on several projects and this would be a great outlet to share :) I love sharing my family and of course the new baby too, but using the photo strip to help build a list is definitely more conducive to what my goals are right now. And I am totally in agreement with you about Facebook and the need to keep the “ownership” to our own sites. That was something I had not even thought about. That is definitely pushing me to change my paradigm … Thanks ;) You rock .. as always!!!!
Very good tricks, going to implement this right away thanks for the tips, they are so easy to follow ! Keep up the good work Michelle !
I love your site Michelle. My manager is in real estate and we’re diligently trying to find ways to get her exposure during this market drop. I have never done blogging before, so this is my first attempt at social media marketing. I have kind of seen myself getting addicted to the learning process. I’m still in the building process of the site. Pretty unsure if I should have the blog site available to public during the building phases. From what I’m learning through various avenues, is that I need to transition back to her Facebook and get that up and running more. If you feel like taking a peek at the site and giving your feed back, it would certainly be appreciated. I will do my best to promote your site. Very easy to navigate and your site made sense. Thanks and I will be a frequent “flyer” to your Blog.