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Weekly Tips & Tricks

Colorful blog header text with reflectionWEEKLY TIPS & TRICKS – Content Marketing

  1. Headlines Make or Break your article!  - Spend extra time writing the article Headline! I’ve ready you should write the headline over 20 times to come up with that creative headline that actually clicks with your audience! Ok, I know 20 is a lot of headlines. But at least try for 10….. 5? My point is spend the time necessary to come up with a headline that makes people want, no Need, to stop and read your article.    Try for a clever headline that just gives a peek into what you are providing!  Fun stuff! So looking forward to the subject and providing the Tips and Tricks of Content Marketing over the next two weeks.
  2. Calls to Action or CTA’s – How critical are these in your content? Probably 2nd only to the Headline! You don’t want to shout BUY FROM ME, BUY FROM ME, BUY FROM ME… but you do want to make it obvious where your readers can take the next step. Make it EASY and Easy to find! Also, remember, you don’t have to just have Calls to Action for actual sales….make it easy for your prospects to follow steps to you…. and to an actual conversation with you!    One last tip for content Calls to Action – Keep people engaged with you….link relevant text in your content to other articles or blog posts you’ve written or services you provide that are related to the message.  We hope these tips are helping you streamline your content marketing strategy… but if we can help, please leave us a message below!
  3. Take the time to find out what your actual audience needs. Ask questions online. Ask your clients when you are on the phone with them. Try polls. Find out where else your audience is hanging out and see what questions they are asking. Here is a great resource for helping find out what questions are being asked online:  Keyword Questions:https://freekeywords.wordtracker.com/keyword-questions.
  4. Be Your Audience’s Go To Resource for Your Niche! Regularly answer your customer’s most difficult question.   Use the tool I mentioned previously, Keyword Tools, to help you figure out exactly what questions to answer! Engage with your audience using surveys, polls… find out what is making them crazy and help them find the solution.  Bottom Line: Focus on Your Audience! Solve their Problems and the will keep coming back to you for other solutions!
  5.  Provide the answers to your audience’s UNANSWERED questions!   Often when you come to the web you find the same topic covered over and over again. Make your blog the place people go to find the answers to the questions nobody else answers. It doesn’t have to be highly technical, sometimes finding the answeres to the simplest things can be difficult. People often come to the web to seek answers and advice. Your audience is no different.  Answering the questions they can’t find answers to is a great way to attract and engage them.   Every time you get a question from you current clients or friends asking for advice or a how do I do this…… make a note of it! Make sure it is relevant to your audience and then write up a simple clear answser! Make a weekly column on your blog about answering these questions. If one person is asking this question, it is a good bet that there are hundred’s of others out there with the same question!
  6. CONSISTENCY! Yes, that is capitalized….. Because it is really the key…. the secret…. to a successful content marketing strategy. If you are consistent and your audience can count on you to provide content that is interesting, provocative and informative, you will be SUCCESSFUL! It is almost guaranteed!    Enjoy SUCCESS! We know you can do it! Creating consistent, fun, engaging content will become easier and easier! I promise!

We hope you enjoyed these Tips & Tricks! Look for more information about keywords and how to use them on your blog to increase engagement and SALES! We can HELP! if you need content marketing strategies! Let us Help YOU Get Back to Doing What You Love!

Please leave us your favorite content marketing tip in the comments.  We love to share and hear other’s tips and tricks!

Are you thinking about updating your cover image on your Facebook page?  Are you a little nervous about the rules and regulations?  Let us help with a step-by-step guide on How-To create and upload a Facebook cover that makes people say WOW!   Make a great first impression and show off your brand’s features while staying within Facebook’s guidelines.

Facebook has decided the cover image should be an eye-catching image that engages but is not an advertisement that uses overt sales techniques.  The first step is understanding the guidelines Facebook created for Pages and their cover photos.

Here are some of the DO NOT’s:

1)      DO NOT Include price or purchase information, such as “20% off” or “Download it here” with the actual download URL included.

2)      DO NOT Show contact details, such as email, website address, physical address.  This information should be shown in the About section.  If there is a place for a piece of information in the About section, it is probably a good bet that Facebook thinks that information should not be included on your cover photo.

3)      DO NOT Include Calls to Action, such as “Get it Here” or “Take the next step by going here”.

4)      Previously, it was a fairly common practice to include a request to “Like” our page or “Share” this content.  You might even see an Arrow point down to the place where the user could “Like” the page.  However, it is no longer ok to include references to Facebook features or actions on your cover image.

5)      And the legalese “covers can’t be deceptive, misleading, or infringe on anyone else’s copyright.”

The best-looking cover photos take advantage of the uniqueness of the Facebook cover photo size and composition.

Smart VA for You - Facebook Cover Image Sizes

Thank you to LunaMetrics for the image.

Here are the specifics:

1)      Official Facebook cover photo size: 851 pixels wide by 315 pixels tall

2)      Official minimum image dimension: 720 pixels wide

3)      Profile Image Size: 160 x 160 pixels, with a minimum image upload size of 180 x 180 pixels

4)      Profile Image Square Cut-Out: 168 pixels wide by 103 pixels tall, spaced 23 pixels from the left edge of the cover photo

Important Details:

It is best to upload an image that meets Facebook’s dimensions as closely as possible.  If your image is smaller than the exact dimensions the image will be stretched and the quality will be distorted.  When deciding on an image for your cover photo, choose high-quality images, which are optimized for web viewing.

Here are some ideas on types of images to use for your cover photo:

  • Your popular products or services
  • Employees educating your customers about your products
  • Customers using your products
  • Seasonal themed images
  • Location themed images

The next step is figuring out what content you can include on the actual cover photo.  While it is NOT recommended that you include any calls to action or price information, there does not seem to be any issues with including impactful content.  We’ve seen company taglines or short descriptive phrases that help the reader understand your business and what it can do to help them.  One of the fun ways people are using their cover images is to convey motivational or inspiring quotes.  We’ve used our cover image as a place to say Thank You and include images of our fans.

Guess what, you’ve completed the most difficult part of creating and adding a cover image to your Facebook Page.   Uploading the actual image to Facebook is actually pretty simple.

Here you go:

To add a cover photo to your page:

1)      Go to your timeline

2)      Click Add a Cover

3)      Choose whether you want to upload a new photo or pick a photo from one of your existing photo albums

4)      Once you choose a photo, you can reposition it by clicking on the image and dragging it up or down

5)      Click Save

To edit your cover photo:

1)      Go to your timeline

2)      Hover over your cover photo

3)      Click Change Cover at the bottom-right of your cover photo

4)      Pick one of the options from the pop-up menu (ex: upload a new photo, reposition your current cover photo, or delete your cover)

5)      Save your changes

 

So, now that you are the local expert on Facebook Cover photos, show us what you’ve got!  Include a link to your Facebook Page so we can all check out your latest cover image!  If you’d like us to do it for you, please contact us or leave us a voice-mail using the button on the side of this page.