Assignment 5 2 Use A Checking Account Transaction Page Answer Key: Fill & Download for Free

Summary: Don't try to create a Frankenstein website that leverages all of the recommendations below. You should consider this a toolbox of techniques to test on your site. Use it to figure out the practical and impractical usage of these techniques as it relates to your product and customers, and how these techniques fit into your overall product and design vision.The subject of conversion rate optimization can be discussed in encyclopedic length. So, I'll do it justice and speak about it at length (especially after Tim Morgan's thoughtful response to "What do all the controls in an airplane's cockpit do?"). This is a long read though, so I warned you. I'll also continue to add to it over time as I learn more and more and find other great conversion rate case studies.I think there are two generic ways in which you can frame your conversion rate optimization efforts:First, I'll speak about on-page optimization of design/copy/layout/etc. for increasing conversion rates, since that is the substrate upon which all referring sources are built and that's what I think this question is initially interested in exploring.Secondly, I'll speak about conversion rate optimization from referring sources since there are methods for improving the performance of referring channels (e.g., SEO vs. email vs. social, and so forth). I'll talk about these points in less detail than the on-page optimization elements, but optimizing the funnel of referring sources to the page you ultimately need the user to convert on is equally valuable. I don't think you can discuss on-page conversion optimization without also addressing improvements further up the funnel. Otherwise you miss the point that conversion rate optimization starts well before the user lands on the page intended on converting them.On-page conversion rate optimizationWhat is it: Changing the elements of a page's design and function to improve the rate at which users take a key action on your site.Conversion event: The most common conversion events are sign-ups, logins, purchases, subscriptions, and shares (brought on via the growth in social media). There are several other conversion types that are more granular, but I'll focus on those core types since the methods for optimizing for those core actions are interchangeable with pretty much any other core action you choose to optimize for.1. Buttons vs. text linksButtons tend to have higher click rates than links simply because they are more obvious. Where you currently have text links for major calls to action, try using buttons instead. There are countless tests where people have shown in increase in CTR anywhere from 20–200% over the control where text links were used.An interesting aside: You shouldn't expect a button's A/B test performance to remain constant 'N' weeks after the test, specifically with email marketing. The button essentially experiences click fatigue since you're likely sending the email (such as a newsletter) to a relatively static group of users. Users get used to the design and may realize that the email's text links and buttons link to the same data—so clicking on any of the linked objects, whether a text link or a button, delivers the value they were looking for. You can read blog posts like this one for statistics that demonstrate button click fatigue: http://www.aweber.com/blog/case-studies/buttons-vs-text-links.htmNonetheless, buttons are still optimal next to text links in most cases because they increase CTR even if the increase in CTR begins to fatigue after 'N' number of weeks. The absolute value may not be a sustained incremental CTR of 30% for perpetuity, but at least you can expect that sustained CTR with some rate of decay for several weeks or months after.That's not to say that you can't have a sustained increase in CTR by using a button on a webpage though. Button behavior on websites vs. emails can be quite different. You tend to not have the same click fatigue behavior on website buttons. Typically, if you realize a gain via an A/B test on the web, you can expect that gain to hold.2. Location of the buttonAbove-the-fold is better than below-the-fold. For example, Chitika ran a study that compared the CTR of ads above the fold vs. below the fold, and found that ads above the fold had a 36% higher CTR (http://www.searchenginejournal.com/placement-matters-placing-online-ads-above-the-fold-increases-ctr-by-36/40930/). The same effect generally applies to any clickable action you place above the fold (vs. below the fold).Some marketers have run interesting studies that demonstrate the effect of showing less information above the fold to encourage users to scroll down the page to discover more content and click on your call to action. The evidence is clear that you can encourage users to scroll and click below the fold (http://www.cxpartners.co.uk/cxblog/the_myth_of_the_page_fold_evidence_from_user_testing/).Take a look at this heat map from the Bristol Airport website and an eye tracking study that was conducted on it. This shows that by showing less content above the fold you can get more users to track down the page and click on those actions.But from a user's perspective, requiring less work on their part generally seems like the right thing to do. So, if you're capable of delivering enough information and value to users that encourages them to click your call to action button above the fold, it seems reasonable to do that instead of coaxing them below the fold by purposefully omitting information at the top of the page. At least, think deeply about minimizing the number of available actions above the fold to simplify their decision-making.3. Size, color, and contrast of action buttonsYou want to make the call to action button obvious but not intrusive. I think Square does a great job at this. Check out their home page at https://squareup.com/. The button color contrasts with the full-bleed image and other page elements. It is large, but not freakishly big, and has a bunch of calls to action surrounding the button and on the button itself.If you're looking for inspiration for more call to action types and styles then check out this list here: http://www.webanddesigners.com/35-creative-call-to-action-buttons-for-inspiration/4. Improve page speedAn often overlooked but hugely valuable component of conversion rate optimization is the speed of the page you are trying to deliver to users. Several tests have shown the benefits of site speed. For example, back in 2007 Amazon released a study that showed that they lost 1% of sales for every 100 ms of additional site latency. You can find more test studies on site speed on the ConversionMedic blog: http://www.conversionmedic.com/website-performance-optimization/ Think about ways in which you can reduce the payload of images/CSS/JavaScript/etc. (especially on critical webpages) to reduce load times. Or figure out ways to chunk the loading of different components of the page to make sure critical components load before non-critical components.Through various tests I've been a part of at both Facebook (product) and Twitter (product), I've seen firsthand how speed improvements can dramatically increase conversion rates. I actually think poor site speed is one of the factors that caused the demise of MySpace (product). Think about it... a slower site means less friend requests, less status updates, fewer picture uploads, fewer ads being clicked on, fewer invites sent, etc., etc., etc. All of those actions contribute to what people would generally refer to as the network effects of a social networking product. Site speed reduces the momentum in the flywheel of network effects. With less momentum, you have less growth, and with less growth, you have an increased chance of losing. Facebook came in and was faster, simpler, and had better network effects. By focusing on critical elements like site speed, Facebook was able to succeed.Google has provided a great Page Speed Testing Tool for anyone to use here: https://developers.google.com/pagespeed/. It generates detailed reports giving specific site speed recommendations. YSlow is another great tool for looking into site speed issues.If you're a WordPress site owner, site speed can be a real issue (especially if you're a heavy plugin user). Try using the Plugin Performance Profiler to look at individual site speed implications for each plugin in use: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/p3-profiler/It generates reports like this that help you diagnose latency contributions per plugin:Thanks to unbounce.com for pointing out these site speed analysis tools (http://unbounce.com/conversion-rate-optimization/how-to-improve-conversions-by-increasing-page-speed-tips-tools/).5. Headlines, subheadlines, and body copyUsing a prominent headline that delivers the core value proposition to users is really important. I would imagine that conversion rate to signup would decrease if Square (company) removed the "Start accepting credit cards today." language from above their sign-up form. Test different language in your headline to see what resonates. If you don't have enough impressions on your site to quickly run an A/B test, then try using Google Ads or Facebook Ads as a platform for testing the language that resonates best with your users (since you can get a lot of impressions relatively quickly, especially with Facebook ads). For example, the headline in your Facebook Ad that gets the highest CTR may be an ideal candidate for the headline on your website's home page. When it comes to body copy, less is usually more. You don't want to overwhelm the reader with too much text to read.I did a search in Google for "small business websites" and clicked on a few of the ads that I was shown to see what the landing pages looked like. One landing page looked like the image below. Clear calls to action, not too busy, a little bit of text to read, and some testimonials for validation. They even have a video introduction that explains the product. This is a pretty solid page:Source: http://www.volusion.com/But another ad landed me on the page below. My knee-jerk reaction was to leave immediately since it seemed like too much to figure out! I do the same thing with any blog post or email that is overwhelmingly wordy and doesn't lead my eye to the valuable bit of information on the page such as data, graphs, bullet point lists, etc. This site also does a terrible job with the use of contrast. The "visit site" action links aren't as obvious as the orange calls to action for "14 day free trial" in the site above:Source: http://www.webhostingfreereviews.com/Sure, there are several calls to action. And since they are bidding on a very expensive keyword they must be managing this to an effective ROI (I hope!). But with all of that text, I'm sure they are losing conversions. In many cases, less text is more when it comes to consumers. Remember, you want your product to be more like In-N-Out than Denny's (company). Offer a short list of excellent products with clear value, not a long list of crap you can barely digest.6. Think about how color impacts mood, emotion and decisionsAs Colm Tuite has shown in his answers to "Is there a science to picking the colors that work well together in a design, or is it just subjective?" your site's use of color can also set the tone for driving conversions (or not). For example, here is a breakdown of color connotation amongst users in the Western world:Take a look at his answer and think about how color may impact conversions and then try a few tests to see if this applies.7. Use of imagesImages can increase and detract from conversion rates. I've run several A/B tests that have shown that clickable images on home pages often lead to fewer net signups overall (even including revisits in a 30-day window after dropping previous sessions). I think Pinterest understands this concept and doesn't let users "escape" from the primary action such as on their "Request an Invite" page: http://pinterest.com/landing/.Notice the carousel of rotating images at the bottom. They are not clickable links so the users isn't going to be driven away from the page intended to initiate signups. But the images are there nonetheless to help convey the value of using Pinterest. From my previous experience, I would anticipate a 5% drop in the rate of email address submissions on that page if the carousel of images was clickable. I've tested clickable vs. non-clickable images on logged out home pages in the past, and in every case, the non-clickable images version increased signups by 5–7% and the quality of the users relative to the control group remained constant.Images can also be used to explicitly improve conversion rate. One of the sayings in Internet marketing is "chicks get clicks." (That's another way of saying "sex sells.") The consulting company ion interactive ran a test for a gaming company and found that the below design outperformed the same design but with less emphasis on breasts by a whopping 35%.Here is a side-by-side comparison of two of the landing pages that were tested with the version on the right getting 35% more registrations:Source: http://www.neurosciencemarketing.com/blog/articles/sex-sells-sometimes.htmThis isn't to say that every website should start putting half-naked women (real or fake!) up front on their landing pages. Clearly this is an effective model for some video game developers. Zynga has also used this approach effectively with ads for games like Mafia Wars.But in general, there are a few key points when using images for driving conversion rates, especially for sites that sell products:use high resolution, not cheap clip arttry image carousels or 360° image rotatorsenable a large product image by default with clickable thumbnails for additional product imagesuse image thumbnails in site search features like BrickHouse Security has done (http://www.internetretailer.com/2010/04/29/product-images-site-search-window-boosts-conversions)More info here: http://conversionxl.com/how-images-can-boost-your-conversion-rate/8. Show validation/testimonialsSometimes testimonials can drive validation, especially for B2C products. Mint.com uses testimonials on their home page. I don't have data on its efficacy, but you should consider using testimonial validation on your product like Mint.com (product) does. Testimonials don't always make sense. For example, Facebook.com would never need testimonials, but a financial services product might.Source: https://www.mint.com/9. Leverage video to demonstrate product and drive conversionsThis subject was brought up by William Wai Wong, who has a great deal of knowledge when it comes to testing video. Video can be a great asset when trying to explain the product and value add of your product. I think that video is especially valuable when your product has anything to do with personal finance, wealth, or the handling of information that the user may consider sensitive. Dropbox (product), for example, has a video on their homepage directly above the "Download Dropbox" button:Dropbox's success with moving to a video-based landing page has been widely documented. Path.com also offers a good example of a first-visit autoplay video walkthrough of their iPhone app. I think that video is very helpful in Path's case since there is a general sense of "not another social network" fatigue and users are becoming increasingly sensitive to sharing personal information. But this video aligns nicely with Path's vision because it wants to focus on closer, more tightly controlled networks of friends. They actually offer a couple of videos on their homepage:10. Pairing intent with landing page contentWhen William Wai Wong first joined Bloomspot, a startup in the daily deals space, one of his first observations was that every competitor in that industry copied the generic landing page Groupon used in all of their marketing campaigns.Despite targeting a wide range of keywords (salon, spa, dining, etc.) on paid search, broad demographics on Facebook, and a range of placements on display networks, Groupon and other daily deal sites use the same landing page. While this saves engineering time, it didn't take very long to build a generic template that allowed them to test text, background image, and other elements tailored to specific campaigns or verticals in their space.The result was over a 20% spike in our conversion rate.Example: Groupon, LivingSocial and other daily deal sites use a single multi-purpose landing page for the following keywords (spa deals, restaurant deals, fitness deals):However, moving to a vertical and intent-based approach pairing the background image and supporting text to match intent, Bloomspot saw significant lifts in conversion rate:As William Wai Wong points out, what works for your mainstream competitor doesn't necessarily work for you. Or, you may in fact, be more sophisticated at it than the mainstream competitor.International implications and costs associated with using a videoThere are a few things to take into consideration before hopping into the deep end and making a video. First, these videos aren't cheap. I've spoken with several vendors and one- to three-minute videos can range in cost from $5,000–20,000. For a startup, that could be a healthy chunk of change. You may want to consider testing as many other "free" conversion rate optimization components as you can before deciding on making a video. You may find that a video isn't needed if you can get enough CRO optimization out from the other methods.Secondly, think about the international implications. If you are starting to expand globally into several languages and countries you'll need to (1) pay for the production cost of translating your video into each locale/language, and (2) consider the latency implications of a video in a country with low broadband penetration. Sure, it's trivial for someone in San Francisco to stream a video. However you shouldn't assume the same even in major markets like Brazil and India where broadband penetration is still nascent compared to markets like the US and the UK. Remember, latency kills conversion rates. A slow video may mean high abandon rates and low signups since the two tend to be inversely correlated. Consider these costs as you work through the CRO tools.Simplify signup formsWhen it comes to getting users to sign up, there are several best practices you should follow. Some of the largest consumer acquisition optimizations I've ever had came from making improvements to signup forms.11. Don't ask for unnecessary fieldsI think that Yahoo! (company) is one of the worst perpetrators of producing scary signup forms and asking for far too much information. Take a look at this signup form for registering an email account:Source: http://www.unmatchedstyle.comThey do not have to ask for gender or birthday. That data is entirely self-serving for Yahoo! since they can use that data to better target you with ads. They could also get rid of the CAPTCHA requirement (which typically has a 10% failure rate) on your first attempt to signup from an IP address. After the second attempt to signup within a few minutes from the same IP address they could then hit the user with the CAPTCHA requirement because that could tip Yahoo! off that you're a bot trying to create multiple accounts. But on the first attempt from an IP, there is high confidence that it is a user and not a bot—they shouldn't be required to provide CAPTCHA. Not to mention that the form is so long that the primary call to action is below the fold.12. Automate fields when possible and use inline validationTwitter does a great job at using validation and automation in their signup form. On the homepage you start signup by entering your name, email address and password. When you hit the button to submit the form they land you on the second page of signup with some fields pre-populated with recommendations (such as the field for choosing a username) and validation that the other fields you entered are correct:They then use a simple algorithm to make username suggestions that you can click and select. Imagine having a common name like Melissa Anderson and being the 53rd Melissa Anderson to try and sign up for Twitter. It's unlikely you can choose anderson.melissa, melissa.anderson, melissa1, etc. since common permutations are already in use. Twitter recommends a name for you based on the available name space. Surely this improves signup rate.13. Give social signup options and use social pressureRegistration using Facebook Connect or Twitter authentication makes signup much simpler for users. You can use the data culled from the Facebook and Twitter APIs to pre-populate several fields such as their profile information, email address, etc. and then just ask the user to accept permissions and maybe create a password.Digg does a great job using social context (the Facepile plugin) in tandem with a bold Facebook Connect social signup option when prompting their social reader integration with Facebook's Open Graph. Mixcloud claims to have increased their conversion rate to signup by 200–300% using the Facepile plugin along with Facebook Connect (http://www.netmagazine.com/news/report-f8-london-part-2-111504). Although most sites won't see the same level of improvement, I've chatted with several other developers and designers that have quoted a 20–50% increase in signups when the signup button is accompanied by the Facepile plugin. Here's what their implementation looks like for Digg:Hipmunk also does a great job at offering social sign in options in their modal signup dialogue:You'll also want to look at the downstream value of the users produced depending on what social signup option they choose. It's common to find variance in the value per user produced whether they came from Facebook Connect or another option. Depending on the value of the user produced you should look into promoting one button over the other.Furthermore you should focus on one social signup button depending on the referrer of the users. For example, if I visited Hipmunk by way of a link on Facebook that I clicked, I'd test showing Facebook Connect as the primary method of showing up. They might be able to optimize signup rates by doing that because the signup process is then within the context of the site they were referred from.Email MarketingWhat is it: Sending transactional or bulk email to users who have opted into receiving email from you or your business/product.Conversion event: From an email marketing standpoint, the conversion event is typically defined by a click in the email that leads the user to a destination page where a final conversion action is emphasized. In this case we'll talk about things you can do to optimize your email funnel for getting the most clicks possible. In other words, conversion rate optimization for email is about increasing the % of email recipients that click on your email and land on your site or mobile app.14. Subject lines and sender addressEmail Optimization 101 asks that you test your subject lines as well as the sender address. In your subject lines, you can test the length (long vs. short) as well as use-descriptors like "Exclusive." In this case study, the client was able to increase email open rates by 8.2% by using a longer subject line that was more descriptive of the event and leveraged enticing descriptors (http://www.marketingexperiments.com/blog/research-topics/email-marketing/subject-line-testing-relevance.html).Other best practices include using social signals. For example, Summify is well known for their excellent email digests. They provide a service that aggregates the top stories across all of your social networks (e.g., LinkedIn + Twitter + Facebook) and give you a daily email with those top stories. In the subject line, they list the names of your social contacts to drive high open rates. A subject line could read, "Here are your top stories from John Smith, Sally Jones, and Rob Johnson" (all of which would be friends/connections of mine on Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn). Anecdotally, users appreciate that experience as well because the personalization drives relevancy:You should also avoid sending your email from address like "[email protected]." Users have come to associate unpersonalized sender lines like that to spam accounts. You should test your way towards higher open rates with personalized sender lines just like you can personalize the subject line.15. Test various lengths of email copyLess is usually more. Several studies have shown that too much text leads to lower click rates and higher opt-out rates, especially for transactional emails. Test the length of copy you include in your emails to see what works.16. Plain text vs HTMLMany designers and developers get caught up in trying to build the perfectly designed email. But the same rules of design for the web don't apply to email. In many cases, plain text email performs better at scale than HTML email because HTML-rendering across email clients varies wildly (your design could be completely broken from one mail client to the next) and because transactional emails are usually meant to deliver a click (e.g., an email from Facebook notifying you that someone wrote on your wall). Test whether plain text does better than HTML.17. Sending email at the right timeIt's amazing how important it is to send email at the right time of day and the right day of week, especially when sending digest emails once a day/week/month. Below is a graph of the typical open and click decay curve that happens after an email is sent out:Source: http://www.ryansolutions.com/blog/2012/three-core-principles-behind-successful-email-optimization/Generally speaking you can expect 90% of clicks/opens to happen on a particular email campaign within 48 hours of being sent. Usually, 80% of opens/clicks happen within 24 hours.Also consider the time of day that you're sending an email. MailChimp (product) has an amazing study on the optimal time of day for email open/click activity:As the graph demonstrates, the optimal time for opens/clicks is 2–5 p.m. local time. If you plan on sending a weekly or monthly digest email to your users, make sure you don't deliver them to inboxes at midnight. You'll dramatically impact email performance. Check out the rest of MailChimp's recommendations in this awesome blog post about email optimization: http://kb.mailchimp.com/article/when-is-the-best-time-to-send-emails/Facebook AdvertisingWhat is it: Advertisements on Facebook for promoting Facebook Pages/Applications and external websites.Conversion event: In most cases advertisers are trying to get Likes for their Page or installs of their Application (e.g., a Zynga game). Sometimes advertisers are driving users to a custom landing tab on their Facebook Page for lead generation purposes for something like an email database. Below are the top factors to consider when thinking about optimizing Facebook Ads as a conversion funnel.18. Country targetingThis is by far the biggest factor to consider when setting up Facebook ads. The cost to drive a conversion in the United States could be 5–10x higher than in other countries, including other major English-speaking markets like the United Kingdom and Canada. This is primarily influenced by the supply side where there are fewer advertisers bidding for impressions in countries outside the United States. However, as advertiser acquisition scales in other countries, they will continue to place a constraint on international Facebook ads inventory and the price will float over time. Be sure to setup separate advertising campaigns/targeting based on country so that you can independently optimize each locale.19. Ad creative (title, image, and description) and image rotationSome images will get higher CTRs but lower conversion rate while others will get lower CTRs but a better conversion rate. Here is one example provided by AdParlor:Make sure your ad text is relevant to the product and the underlying landing page. You also need to cycle images often because Facebook ads typically experience a rapid CTR decay since you're often showing the ad to the same set of users over and over again, unlike Google ads where you tend to have higher variance in the cluster of users (unless someone goes back to the search results and searches for the exact same keyword day after day). With Facebook ads you are being targeted based on your interests, which is a relatively steady set of data associated with you as a user. That's why you are likely to see the same ad multiple times. But rotating images regularly you can optimize CTRs for your ads, which usually means your CPC gets priced lower and hence the cost you pay per conversion decreases.20. Target demographicGenerally speaking, women click on ads more than men, and younger ages click more than older ages. Think about the target demographic your product appeals to and look at performance data to see which demographics cost more or less to convert on.21. Pipeline from click to conversionYou also want to require as few clicks as possible. I recently got an ad on Facebook from AppSumo. The ad looked like this:Not only did the ad use social context by showing me that one of my friends likes it (which boosts CTR) but the underlying landing page that drives a conversion event is really simple as well:The conversion event is driven by a single click after I enter my email address and click "show me the deal" or if I just login with Facebook Connect. It is not uncommon for Facebook ads to have a conversion rate of 40–60% after the click if the ads are well targeted and the conversion event is simple.22. Market saturation of your product/applicationAs you start your Facebook campaign you can define "exclusion targeting" to make sure you don't serve ads to users who have already interacted with your Page/Application. But imagine if the total potential audience for your business or product is realistically 10,000 users. After a few months let's assume you have reached 5,000 of them. As you saturate the market your CTR drops and as your CTR drops your CPC may go up since you're now starting to target semi-interested users. According to John Marsland, Acquisition Manager at Zynga, "Once you've acquired the majority of the early adopters, CPIs in a particular market can increase by 3x-5x from your day cost-per-install. Fortunately, this change doesn't happen overnight. Refreshing creative, creating a compelling message, and refining your target audience are the best ways to combat application saturation."23. Market conditionsAd supply continues to increase as more advertisers enter Facebook's system. There is also a question of demand fatigue in that users could be getting tired of applications and deals. Sudden changes in market conditions from one month to the next can cause your cost-per-install to change dramatically over time. You have to stay vigilant when running Facebook ads to also adjust for these market changes.You can find more best practices on Facebook Ads optimization from Facebook here: http://ads.ak.facebook.com/ads/FacebookAds/OptimizationGuide_060611.pdfSearch Engine Advertising (AdWords)What is it: Bidding on a cost-per-click basis on Google ads based on user search keywords.Conversion event: Google is known for being a demand fulfillment product in that the conversion rate downstream from clicks on ads is very high since the searcher already has a strong idea for what they are looking for. The ads are intended to deliver on that user demand. Below are some of the best practices for optimizing your Google ads.24. Optimizing for Quality Score and ad performanceAdWords Quality Score is a score as defined by Google is "a dynamic metric assigned to each of your keywords. It's calculated using a varity of factors and measure how relevant your keyword is to your ad group and to a user's search query. The higher the keyword's Quality Score, the lower its cost-per-click and the better its ad position." The breakdown of Quality Score factors includes these elements: CTR of the ad, relevance of the keyword to its adgroup, landing page quality, relevance of keywords to the creative (ad copy), overall account performance history, and other elements like page load time.Here is a list of techniques from PPChero on improving ad CTR (http://www.ppchero.com/how-to-increase-your-ppc-ctr-%E2%80%93-it%E2%80%99s-staring-you-right-in-the-face/). It boils down to:test using trademark (™) or registered trademark (®) symbolsuse calls to action or incentive-based action words (e.g., "buy now, limited offer!")enable sitelinksuse Dynamic Keyword Insertion (DKI)You can do things like setup negative keywords to ensure you don't bid on keywords that don't convert for you, thereby cutting wasteful spend. Also try lots of landing page rotation and testing to find the best combination of keyword + match type + ad text + landing page.Social Sharing (Like/Twitter buttons)What is it: Optimizing for the placement and location of social features on your site (e.g., the Like and Tweet button) as well as contributions to social media site to drive qualified, targeted value to your site.Conversion event: In this case, the conversion event is either a click of the Like/Tweet/etc. buttons or an interaction with a status update or tweet that drives referral traffic to your site.25. Testing placement of the Like/Tweet buttonsYou can use products like Kissmetrics to run quick tests to figure out which social button placement on your site generates the most clicks. The same general rules apply to the lessons at the top of this answer regarding button placement since Like/Tweet buttons are also conversion events. Generally speaking for blog owners, the Like/Tweet buttons are best when placed immediately next to or below the title of the blog post and immediately above the comment box on the page. Typically you'll get fewer Likes/Tweets if those buttons are placed in the sidebar of the site. Here's an example of a typical placement of social buttons on AllThingsD (although they should probably remove the "share" and "print" buttons—I'm pretty sure people don't use those).26. Intelligent status updates and tweets using analyticsYou can use products like Tweriod or Timely to figure out when your followers/fans are online. Then you can schedule status updates and tweets via products like Crowdbooster so that your social media production coincides with when fans/followers are online. Rand Fishkin at Moz found that he had slightly higher tweet interaction rates with his tweets that were shorter in length than longer in length.Source: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/calculating-and-improving-your-twitter-clickthroughrateThere's lots of other amazing data points on the appropriate use of Twitter here (http://www.whitefireseo.com/infographics/twitter-psychology-for-marketers/) thanks to the team at White Fire SEO.SEO (Search Engine Optimization)What is it: The art and science of improving on-site and off-site signals that help a web page rank higher in the search results for a particular keyword or set of keywords.Conversion event: Search engines are known for being demand fulfillment businesses (i.e., the results tend to satisfy the demand of the searcher more so than they tend to generate the demand). Not to say there is no branding effect in search engines since discovery of a new brand can be serendipitous, but generally speaking, the user knows what they want and the search results satisfy that demand. So from a conversion rate optimization standpoint, you optimize conversion rates from SEO referrers by optimizing for the click in the search results. Here are some best practices:27. Page meta dataUse targeted keywords in the meta title and meta description of the page since most search engines tend to highlight matching keywords in titles/descriptions from the user's search query. So if I search for "adidas running shoes" any organic or paid search result will show bolded keyword matches like in the screenshot below. Those keywords attract the eye of the searcher, increasing the chances that the user will click on your search results, hence increasing the conversion rate of a user clicking on your site vs competing sites. Using those keywords in the meta data also improves the chances of your site ranking highly, which is a conversion optimization in itself.28. Calls to action in the page metadataTest using calls to action in the meta title and description such as, "sign up for free," "free shipping on all orders!" etc. to see if clicks on search results with calls to action correlate with a higher conversion rate on the underlying page. Twitter does a great job with their meta descriptions by using the "sign up for Twitter to follow" call to action:

Okay, there are a couple of questions before the question can be answered properly; so I will try to deal with the different aspects of it.The intent : What is the reason for this question to come up in your mind - is it because you are concerned about the probability to succeed at your new venture if you have no prior experience, or is it because you are more concerned about whether private investors/angels and VCs would take you seriously or not?Nature of experience : Are you talking about experience of running your own startup in past, or having worked in a key position for a well doing startup, or are you asking about prior experience professionally (probably in an established firm or as a junior executive in a startup)The different aspects:As far as investors go, sure - the experience of having been at the helm of a successful startup makes you an instant favorite. They tend to be inclined towards meeting you, they have relatively higher confidence in your capabilities to hold true to the daunting task at hand, they know that you have shown in past that you are up for the challenge. So they listen to you more carefully, and the doubts they may have in you would be far lesser. This is true not only if you were a founder, but even if you were one of the early employees and held a key position at the last startup. Why? Because as a key employee, you would have witnessed and experienced a lot of the same challenges that the founding team would have had to deal with; and a number of times you would have been in a situation where it is up to you to bring the firm out of the proverbial trench it has fallen prey to.(And this rule holds true even if the new startup you are planning to launch is not completely related to the past work you had been doing. Because at the core of it, many of the businesses are alike - they are governed by the same guidelines, same benchmarks, same thought processes. Although it doesn't mean you can go ahead and start a business in manufacturing health equipment if you have no relevant background whatsoever in your entire professional life. But, I believe you get the idea)Having said that, it is equally important for me to mention here that it is not a thumb rule for the investors; so just because you have not had the experience of running a successful startup in past doesn't mean investors are going to dismiss you altogether. Sure it does make your job harder, but not impossible. If that was the case, we would never have had first time entrepreneurs being backed by investors, would we? Be sound in your approach towards running your business, and that work will speak for you - it wouldn't matter much that you are a first time entrepreneur if what you are doing now proves you know your shit!Probability to succeed at your startup is not a function of whether you have any professional experience or not. It is a function of a lot of things, but prior professional experience isn't one of them. Few of the things that do play a crucial role in the probability of you succeeding at your next endeavour could be listed as:A sound business ideaProper planning of the business, and a critical analysis of different aspects of itA good and strong team to carry it outHumility - Losing your arrogance; being willing to accept when and where you are wrong, and having the temperament to rectify your mistakes rather than being foolishly arrogant about it. (Remember, there is no harm in failing, but fail fast and learn from your failings even faster)(Also, don't fail just for the sake of failing - you failed at something, that's never good... But if that has contributed to making you better than what you used to be earlier at your work, then I would say it was worth it)Execution - A proper execution of the business (If not perfect, then at least the best possible approximation of it)There is a reason investors tend to favor past entrepreneurs - running a startup is a very enriching experience. You face a lot of problems on a daily basis, you solve them, you learn something new, you get a handle on how to maintain the balance in aligning your short term and long term business goals etc. That makes you a person who can execute things better - sometimes with a surgical precision, and sometimes with an elegant approach. Those will be the traits that you will need to make your startup grow - even if you forget the investors for the moment. You can inculcate those qualities in yourself. Actually check that, you need to, you must inculcate those qualities in yourself if you want to have even so much as a fighting chance at succeeding. So do that.Working as a junior executive - If you have worked as a junior executive, that experience as far as I am concerned doesn't add up to much when you think about starting on your own. It wouldn't matter whether you were working for an established firm or in a startup, if you were out of the inner circle, then you had no accountability. And if you had no accountability, you faced no challenges, and your only challenge was to ensure that you need to deliver the task assigned to you in time, then all the traits we talked about in the points earlier - they all get tossed out the window. (To clarify, the intent of making this point is simple - don't gain some experience just for the sake of gaining some experience. You need to know beforehand what is it that you are looking to gain out of the task you are about to undertake.)Hope that helped!APS: Time for some shameless promotion. Some parts of the answer above are from my book "The Art of Starting Up : in fifty pages or less"You can find it on Gumroad and Instamojo. (Instamojo doesn't support international transactions so I had to use Gumroad for that)You can use the code "QUORA" to get it at a reduced rate. :)Gumroad link: The Art of Starting Up (International readers)Instamojo link: The Art of Starting Up (Indian readers)

Facebook isn’t new, and neither is the idea that every business needs a Facebook presence.However, a lot has changed since Facebook first entered the marketing scene. Today, the world’s largest social network can do things many of us would never have dreamed of 10 years ago: host 360-degree videos, sell products via a chatbot, or even serve as a top news source for two-thirds of the adult population.Facebook has 1.56 billion daily active users . Let’s put that in perspective. That’s nearly 5X the population of the United States, 20% of the world population … and still climbing.So imagine the social influence achievable through Facebook in terms of your peer effects, ecommerce business, referrals, customer relationships, reputation, brand awareness, and much more (let alone, in combination with other social media platforms you market through).It’s not only the sheer number of people but the amount of our attention Facebook owns. Globally, the average user spends almost an hour per day on Facebook. Considering the average person sleeps eight hours a day, that means about 7% of our waking hours is spent with our eyes glued to the social network.Facebook has1.56billion daily active users.The average user spends60minutes per day on Facebook.Despite this, only48%of marketers think their Facebook efforts are effective.Download our complete guide to using Facebook for business and marketing for free here.For many, Facebook is the internet. That said, is your business taking full advantage of it?Your answer should be yes — confirmed by Gary Vaynerchuk, CEO of VaynerMedia.In an interview, HubSpot's Founder and CEO Brian Halligan, posed the question, "Let's say you're getting started today in marketing and you're building a social media brand — where are you spending your energy if you're that marketer?"Vaynerchuk said, "... you can't be alive in the game without a Facebook [and an Instagram]. I genuinely believe that. I think it would be highly detrimental."So, how do you use Facebook to benefit your business?Facebook Pages are the gateway for businesses to market to this holy grail of users. A Facebook Page is a public presence similar to a personal profile, but allows fans to “like” the business, brand, celebrity, cause, or organization. Fans receive content updates from the Page on their News Feed, while the business is able to raise brand awareness, deploy and track advertising, collect detailed audience insights, and chat with users who seek customer service.Below you’ll find everything you need to know to become a master Facebook marketer. No matter if your business has had a Page for years or you’re just getting started, this comprehensive guide is for you.Read along, email it to yourself or bookmark it for later, or jump to the section that interests you most.How to Set Up a Facebook Business PageHow to Get Facebook LikesTypes of Facebook PostsHow to Create a Facebook Marketing StrategyTracking & Measuring Results with Facebook AnalyticsHow to Advertise on FacebookFacebook Marketing, the Inbound WayBefore we dive in, let’s get one thing out of the way. There are many ways to approach marketing on Facebook, but we’ll stick to the one we love most: inbound.An inbound strategy is about being helpful and relatable to your audience. It involves understanding the goals of your customer and partnering with them to overcome challenges. One of the best ways to do this is to be available where they already spend their time — that means you need to be present on Facebook.Facebook’s tools cater to the business that wants to form an authentic relationship with their audience. It allows marketers to create and distribute quality content that’s helpful for users. And it allows sales and customer services reps to connect with consumers interested in a brand.It’s not about being spammy, annoying, or deceiving.If you’re building a Facebook Page just to check one more thing off the branding to-do list, think again. True Facebook marketing requires a consistent, long-term commitment. But we promise, the awareness and demand will be worth it.Ready? Let’s go.How to Set Up a Facebook PageCreate a Facebook PageAdd photosAdd a short descriptionCreate a username for your PageAdd your Page to ShortcutsSet up Page rolesCustomize your notificationsAdd a Page CTAOrganize your Page tabsVerify your PageIf you’ve decided to build a Facebook Page for your business, you’ve made the right choice. In fact, you’ll be joining 70 million businesses worldwide who already market via Facebook Page — a number that's jumped by 1 million in the last few years.Before we get into publishing content and boosting posts with advertising, let’s rewind to the very beginning and walk through the setup process.1. Create a Facebook PageAs you probably know, the majority of Facebook is made up of personal profiles. However, if you’re a business looking to establish your presence on the social network, you’ll need to create a Page instead.Pages are Facebook’s equivalent of a business profile. Pages look similar to profile pages but show specific information only applicable to businesses, organizations, and causes. Whereas you connect with a profile by adding them as a friend, you connect with a business Facebook Page by “liking” it and becoming a fan. If you create a personal profile for your business instead of a Page, you run the risk of getting it shut down by Facebook.facebook-marketing-page-likesTo get started building your own Facebook Page, go to Facebook.There, you’ll have two categories to choose from:Business or BrandCommunity or Public Figurefacebook-marketing-create-a-pageFacebook offers two categories so you can better customize the fields on your Page. For the purpose of this introduction, let’s say we’re a “Business or Brand.” We’ll create a Page for a (completely fictitious) company called Boston Coat Company and categorize it as a Retail Company. (To choose a category, simply start typing and choose from the drop-down list.)facebook-marketing-page-name-and-categoryWe recommend you choose the name for your Page wisely. Facebook will let you change your name and URL in most cases, but it can be a difficult and tedious process.If you haven’t already, you’ll be prompted to sign into Facebook at this point. You must create and manage Pages from your personal Facebook account; however, your personal information won’t appear on the Page unless you add it.Press “Get Started” and you’ll be automatically redirected to add a Profile Photo and Cover Photo for your new Page. (You can skip these steps and do them later, but we recommend getting them out of the way now.)If you do skip, however, you'll see your new Facebook Page as well as a few tips for building the foundation of a business Page.facebook-marketing-page-tips2. Add PhotosAdd a Profile PictureThe first step to giving your Facebook Page an identity is adding a profile picture. This will serve as the primary visual for your Page, appearing in search results and alongside any of your content that shows up in a user’s News Feed. Most publishers suggest creating a photo that’s 180 x 180 pixels, however increasing this slightly will help maintain quality. If you don’t upload an image that is already square, you’ll be prompted to crop.Think of your profile picture as your first impression, and be sure to choose something immediately recognizable (like a logo). If you’re a speaker or public figure, go with a favorite headshot. Local restaurants or shops may choose an image of their most popular offering.Add a Cover PhotoNext, Facebook will suggest you add a cover photo. A cover photo is the large, horizontal image that spans the top of your Page. It should express your Page’s identity and can be updated often based on special offerings, campaigns, or seasons.To upload a cover photo, click the “Add a Cover Photo” option in the welcome menu. The official dimensions of a cover photo are 851 x 315 pixels. However, if your photo is not exact, you’ll have the option to drag to reposition the photo. Press "Save".facebook-marketing-cover-photoTo change your cover photo in the future, hover your mouse over the white camera in the lower right corner of your cover photo and select “Change Cover.” It’s also a good idea to include a sentence of text and a link in the description if you are promoting a specific campaign in your imagery. That way, if your cover photo highlights a new parka, they can seamlessly jump to your winter product line to buy.Finding the right balance between a cover photo that is both visual and simple can be a challenge. Try going with an abstract image or pattern to catch the eye, or a landscape shot with your product as the focal point. Often, the best cover photos are the ones that use negative space to their advantage.Facebook Cover Photo Stock ImagesDownload our free collection of patternsfor your Facebook Page's cover photo.DOWNLOAD NOW3. Add a Short DescriptionYour Page is starting to come together with some beautiful imagery. Next, you’ll need a description to let your audience know what your business is all about.Click “Add a Short Description” under "Welcome to Your New Page"to get started. Add one to two sentences (or 255 characters max) about your business. This description will appear both on your Page and in search results, so keep it descriptive but succinct. But don’t be afraid to show a bit of your brand’s personality!facebook-marketing-page-descriptionAlternatively, you can edit your description by clicking on “About” in the left menu. There you’ll find the option to include a phone number, website, email, mission, and more.facebook-marketing-page-about-tab4. Create a Username for Your PageThe last step on the welcome menu is to create a username for your Page. Your username will appear in your custom Facebook URL (also known as a vanity URL) to help people easily find and remember your Page. You’ll have 50 characters to come up with a unique name not being used by another business.facebook-marketing-page-usernameBy picking @thebostoncoatcompany for my sample Page, people can automatically visit my Page at http://fb.me/thebostoncoatcompany or send me messages at Messenger. Keep your Page’s unique URLs handy. You’ll use them again when you begin cross-promoting your Page on your website, blog, and other assets to get more Facebook likes.5. Add Your Page to ShortcutsWe finished the four steps from Facebook’s welcome menu, but there are still a few things you can do to customize your Page. For example, every Facebook user has a vertical navigation bar to the left of their News Feed. By adding your Page as a shortcut here, you’ll always have easy access. Go to your News Feed and click on “Edit” next to “Shortcuts” in the left vertical navigation to make it easy to navigate to your Page in the future.6. Set Up Page RolesWith the basic skeleton of your Page complete, there’s an important step you’ll want to take before you send the Page out to the world … or even your co-workers. Remember how Facebook creates business Pages separate from personal profiles? One benefit of this is so multiple people from an organization can edit and post from the Page without sharing login credentials. But that also means you need to designate who has what levels of editing access. That’s where Page Roles comes in.On the top navigation bar, locate “Settings.”facebook-marketing-page-settingsThen click on“Page Roles” in the left navigation bar. There are a few options when adding a collaborator:Admin: Admins can manage all aspects of the Page, meaning they can send messages, publish as the Page, respond or delete comments, create ads, see which admin published a specific post, and assign Page roles. This person would have all the same permissions as the creator of the Page. Choose wisely.Editor: Editors have the same permissions as Admins except for one key difference: Editors can’t assign Page roles to other people.Moderator: Moderators can send messages and respond to and delete comments, but they can’t publish as the Page. They do have access to create ads.Advertiser: Just as it sounds, Advertisers can create ads and view insights.Analyst: Analysts don’t have any publishing power whatsoever, but they can see which Admin published a specific post and view insights.Jobs Manager: Jobs Managers can do everything that an Advertiser can do as well as publish and manage jobs.facebook-marketing-page-roles7. Customize Your NotificationsWhile you’re in the settings menu, jump up to “Notifications.” This section allows you to customize how you receive alerts for activity on your Page. For example, you could choose to get a notification every time there is activity or just get one notification every 12 to 24 hours.8. Add a Page CTAOne of the top benefits of having a Facebook Page for your business is the ability to attract an audience you might not have been able to reach with a traditional website. However, the typical buyer’s journey doesn’t end on Facebook.Starting in December 2014, Facebook allowed Pages to include a call-to-action button at the top of the Page. To create one, click “+ Add a Button” below your cover photo. You can choose from an array of choices depending on if you want view or book a service, get in touch, make a purchase or donation, download an app, or simply learn more.facebook-marketing-page-cta-buttonClick "Next" and choose a link for the CTA to lead to, such as your homepage, Messenger, a landing page, or a video.9. Organize Your Page TabsWant to take your business Page to the next level? Add custom tabs to tailor what content users see when they visit your Page. For example, when you visit Starbucks’ Page, there’s an option to browse photos, see open jobs, visit its Pinterest account, or find a store near you.facebook-marketing-page-tabsTo change the tabs on your Page, go to "Settings" > “Templates and Tabs”. You can choose to use Facebook's default tabs, or you can add additional ones. You can also create a custom app via the Facebook Developer portal.10. Verify Your PageHave you ever noticed a tiny gray or blue check mark next to the names of some businesses and brands?facebook-marketing-verify-your-pageDepending on how you categorized your Page, you could be eligible for a verification badge. A blue badge means that Facebook has confirmed an authentic Page for a public figure, media company or brand. Agray badge means that Facebook has confirmed an authentic Page for a business or organization.A verification badge is by no means necessary, but it does add a sense of authority to your Page and business. This could be particularly important for businesses in ecommerce or online services looking to build trust with potential customers and initiate transactions online.To ensure you're eligible, confirm that your Page has a profile picture and cover photo. Go to “Settings” > "General". There you’ll find “Page Verification” where you can enter your publicly listed phone number, country, and language. You'll receive a call with a verification code.The blue check badge is only available to some public figures, celebrities, and brands. Unfortunately, it’s not possible to request a blue badge.How to Get Facebook Likes and FansOf course, you want your Facebook business Page to be successful. However, what success looks like on social media will vary based on your business goals. Your top focus could be launching new products, building awareness, driving sales, or collecting leads.But no matter what, you need likes.A “like” is how a user raises their hand and intentionally chooses to see updates from your business in their News Feed.In this section, we’ll give you some practical strategies to get Facebook Page likes from the moment your Page goes live and how to grow that demand into the future.Why You Shouldn’t Buy Facebook LikesIf you need Page likes to master Facebook marketing, that brings up a good question: Why not just buy them?Don’t believe this is a real dilemma? Go ahead and Google “buy Facebook likes.” You’ll find pages upon pages of external services selling packages of likes for a flat fee. And for some, it may seem like a quick and easy way to make your business look credible.However, the issue lies in where these likes actually come from. Companies that sell likes use click farms, fake accounts, or even compromised accounts to reach the promised number. That means it’s highly unlikely that any of these users who have liked your Page will ever engage with your content.Remember: Not every Facebook post shows up in the News Feed. When Facebook decides what to include, the algorithm looks specifically at engagement rates — not your total number of fans. Over time, the lack of likes and comments on your posts (due to unengaged or fake fans) compared to the number of Page likes you have could prevent your content from being seen. The average user will likely also question your credibility with such a discrepancy.If the long-term effects of a poor engagement rate aren’t enough to scare you, remember that Facebook has a team that watches out for this sort of suspicious behavior. They won't hesitate to shut down your Page without warning.Promoting Your Page on FacebookNow that we’ve covered how not to get likes, let talk about how to get them — the right way. We’ll start with promoting your Page on Facebook and then through your other marketing assets.As we mentioned in the previous section, take the time to thoughtfully fill out the “About” section of your Page. Fill your description with searchable information, but don’t overstuff it with keywords. Include an overview of what your business offers, proper categories, and a link back to your website. Here's HubSpot's "About" section as an example.facebook-marketing-hubspot-page-aboutIf you’re building a Page from scratch, consider sharing it with people you’re already connected to on Facebook. From your Page's main screen, check out the section titled "Know friends who might like your Page?"facebook-marketing-invite-friendsAs you choose contacts, be cautious about over-promoting to people you know won’t be interested. Spammy Facebook marketing does more harm than good.Also, don’t forget to invite your colleagues to like your Page. Encourage them to share it with their own Facebook friends or include the unique link in their email signatures. Employees in departments like sales, customer service, or HR who consistently email people outside your business are often a great fit.Finally, be active. The best way to gain Page likes is to build an engaging community. Post helpful or entertaining content that your followers will want to like and share. Respond to messages quickly and interact with comments on your posts. Have you ever noticed some Pages have a green badge saying they’re “very responsive to messages”? If you’ve received a 90% response rate and an average response time of under 15 minutes over the last seven days, you too can earn this badge.facebook-marketing-responsive-to-messagesSecuring Facebook likes isn’t reserved for the initial setup of your Page. You’ll need to build a consistent, lovable strategy to continue adding value to your followers.Promoting Your Page Through Your WebsitePromoting your Page doesn’t end on Facebook. Include social media follow buttons on your website and blog to make it easy for your audience to connect with you on Facebook.You can also use a Page plugin to easily embed and promote your Page on your website. Facebook will build the iframe code that shows a feed of your latest posts. That way, visitors can like and share your Page without ever leaving your website.Promoting Your Page to Your Customers and Email ContactsHave a brick-and-mortar business? Think of creative ways to let your customers know you have a Facebook presence. Place a Facebook sticker with your Page’s name in the front window or include the custom URL on your receipts. You could even run a promotion where people get a discount if they like your Page on the spot from their mobile device.Ecommerce businesses can do likewise. Don’t forget a Page link in your email marketing, whether it’s receipts, product suggestions, content updates, or customer service messages.Promoting Your Page on Additional Social Media ChannelsSharing your Page from your other social media accounts is another option, as long as you do it sparingly. The key is not to annoy the Twitter or LinkedIn audience you’ve worked so hard to build.Social Media Image TemplatesDownload NowFacebook Post TypesWhen it comes to Facebook marketing, posting content is the core function of the job. Without a consistent flow of content, your Page exists solely as a source of information for people who are already aware of your brand.In other words, it’s no different than the most basic of websites.However, when you use Facebook to publish and share quality content, you extend your reach into the big blue ocean of Facebook’s users. Users discover your content and may choose to like your Page to continue the relationship. Over time, their trust in your brand increases, hopefully enough to make a purchase.That’s the recipe of inbound marketing, after all.How to Post to Your Facebook PageTo post on your Facebook Page, look for the white box below your cover photo that says “Write something …” and simply begin typing. When your update is ready to go (after a proofread, of course), hit “Share Now”. From this field, you can also add a photo or video, tag a product or location, run a poll, or schedule or backdate your post if you so choose.facebook-marketing-create-a-postFacebook ImagesPosting an image is always a great choice, especially since Facebook posts with images see 2.3X more engagement than those without visuals and account for 87% of total interactions.To post an image, click the “Photo/Video” prompt below where it says "Write a post...".facebook-marketing-add-photo-videoFacebook Image SizesIf you’ve done any sort of social media marketing before, you understand the necessity of keeping image sizes handy.As we covered in your Page setup, there are a few types of images you can post to Facebook, each with their own size specifications:Profile Picture: 180 x 180Cover Photo: 820 x 312Timeline image: 1200 x 630 (The ratio is more important than the size. Keep a 1.9:1 ratio.)facebook-marketing-image-sizesIt’s no secret that the best Facebook images are highly visual. Try to keep a consistent style among all the images you post, and don’t be afraid to let your personality show.Facebook LinksOne of the easiest ways to start populating your Facebook Page with content is to share the blog posts you publish. You shouldn’t share every blog post you create, but instead, pick those you know will resonate with your Facebook audience and hopefully get shared by your followers.To post a link, begin the same way you would create a text post. Write a sentence or two and paste in your link. As opposed to summarizing the blog post in your copy, come up with a relatable or witty statement (as long as it’s in line with your brand voice) that would intrigue someone to learn more.Before you publish, go ahead and delete the link to make your post look more clean and professional. By this point, the blog post should auto-populate below the white box with the title, meta description, and image. Hit “Publish.”facebook-marketing-add-page-linksSpeaking of, remember to include a compelling meta description with each blog post you write. Facebook automatically pulls this in to describe your link.Facebook VideoIf you’re looking to tell a story on Facebook, video is likely your best option. Recently, video has gained a lot of buzz, especially considering the Facebook algorithm now prioritizes both live video and longer videos with high completion rates in users’ News Feeds. In fact, a Facebook exec predicted the social media platform will be all video by 2021.100million hours of video are watched every day on Facebook.Facebook Live videos are watched3xlonger than standard videos.54%of people want to see more video content from marketers.To upload a pre-produced video to Facebook, click the “Photo/Video”, click the “Photo/Video” prompt below where it says "Write a post..." and select "Upload Photos/Video".Select the file from your computer. We recommend uploading videos as an MP4 or MOV file.facebook-marketing-add-videoNext, you’ll be prompted to add a title, tags, and some text to your post. You can also add it to a playlist. As with Facebook links, use this text to entice your audience to watch the video.Click along the navigation on the right side to choose your video thumbnail and add subtitles and captions. Considering Facebook auto-plays videos without sound (and almost 90% of videos are watched without sound), SRT files are a smart choice to make sure your video is understood by those scrolling through their News Feed on a mobile device.Facebook also allows you to run polls with your video (if it's 10 seconds or longer), set up tags for tracking, and turn on 360º Mode (which allows your users to view the video like a panorama.Because Facebook auto-plays videos, the first 5-10 seconds are prime real estate. As you brainstorm videos for Facebook, make the beginning as visually compelling as possible to encourage the user to view the full video.Facebook LiveAside from pre-produced video, Facebook Live is another option to explore multimedia content. Facebook Live is a feature that allows live-streaming capabilities to users on their desktop or smartphone. It’s available to any Facebook user, but is particularly appealing to brands who want to capture the culture of their company and form authentic relationships with their followers.To try it out on your desktop, go to your Page and click on “Live” under where it says "Write a post...".facebook-marketing-facebook-liveIf you haven’t used Facebook Live before, you’ll be prompted to give Facebook access to your camera and microphone. Press the blue “Continue” button. Don’t worry — you won’t begin recording yet.You'll see a dialog box pop up on the right where you can choose where you want to broadcast (on your Page or on your personal profile), write a description, share your screen, and title and tag your video. Under the "Interactive" tab, you can also run a poll while you do your Live video. Once you click "Go Live" your Live video will begin.On your smartphone, open up the Facebook app. Go to your Page and click on “Publish” as if you were going to write a new post, then select the “Live Video” option. Before you enter any information, go ahead and check the privacy settings. Under the description, you’ll see a choice to broadcast to the public, just your friends, or only yourself. If you’re testing out Facebook Live for the first time, we suggest using “only me” to ensure your live stream doesn’t show up on your News Feed.facebook-marketing-facebook-live-appBefore you go live, write a compelling title that will show up alongside your live video. Then use the two arrows in the upper right corner to determine if you want to change the camera view to the selfie view or vice versa. Lastly, decide if you’ll hold your phone vertically or rotate it sideways to landscape. As you'd do on your desktop, press the blue “Go Live” to start broadcasting.When you do go Live, keep your viewers engaged by asking questions and encouraging them to respond in the comments. Every few minutes, re-introduce yourself and explain the purpose of the video in case new viewers join. For inspiration, check out some of the best Facebook Lives we’ve ever seen.When you’re ready to stop recording, click “Finish” to end the broadcast. The video will automatically stay on your Page like any other video post. You’ll also be given the option to save the video to your camera roll so you have a copy for safekeeping.facebook-marketing-facebook-live-save-to-camera-rollMarketer's Guide to Facebook LiveRead NowFacebook Instant ArticlesFacebook Instant Articles are a feature that allows publishers to post text- and photo-based content in a format that loads on mobile without leaving the Facebook app. If you’ve ever been on your phone and clicked on an intriguing headline just to have the Facebook app completely freeze, you know how frustrating it can be to load mobile content.That’s the main benefit of Facebook Instant Articles. They significantly decrease the time it takes to load content on mobile, while offering a seamless user experience. You know you’ve found an Instant Article if there’s a small gray thunderbolt below the title of the post.facebook-marketing-facebook-instant-articlesWhen Instant Articles were first released, they were only available to a few select publishers. Now, any publisher can use them if they sign up at Instant Articles. Facebook will walk you through submitting your first sample article and requesting approval from the Instant Articles team. Once you’re approved, you’ll be able to auto-publish in the new format.While Instant Articles are definitely not for every business, they have helped some larger publishers monetize from native advertising. Because users are 20% more likely to click on Instant Articles and 70% less likely to abandon then due to poor user experience, publishers have a greater opportunity to earn revenues from native ads. However, the format has received backlash because the publishers don’t own the analytics.Facebook Virtual RealityLast but certainly not least, there’s virtual reality for Facebook. At least for the moment, Facebook’s main virtual reality offering is 360-degree video. Facebook 360 allows publishers to tell immersive stories that share places and experiences with their fans.The 360-degree video experience works best on mobile, as viewers are able to tilt and turn their phone to reveal video content all around them. On a desktop, users can click and drag. The format is also compatible with VR headsets like Oculus Rift or Samsung Gear VR.The most efficient way to create a Facebook 360 video is to use a 360-degree camera such as an ALLie or RICOH THETA. The THETA, for example, has two lens that together capture the 360-degree look. Since there’s no viewfinder, you’ll need to use the corresponding mobile app to set the shot and a tripod to keep the camera steady. The app then allows you to share directly to Facebook.How to Pin a Facebook PostNow that you know all the different types of Facebook posts, let’s customize how they appear on your Page. By “pinning” a post, you can determine which piece of content sticks to the top of your Page. Any other posts will appear below, even if they were published more recently than the pinned post.To pin a post on your Page, click on the small down arrow in the top right corner of a published post. Then select “Pin to Top of Page.” This post will remain pinned until you choose to pin another post and replace it.facebook-marketing-pin-post-to-pageHow to Create a Facebook Marketing StrategyNow that we've covered the types of content you can publish on Facebook, you’ll find that posting is the easy part. Knowing what — and when — to post is the real challenge of Facebook marketing.To build a successful Facebook marketing strategy, you’ll first need a comprehensive understanding of your audience. Then we’ll dive into 1) developing the right mix of content to drive results, 2) scheduling posts into your editorial calendar, and 3) exploring Facebook’s new offerings for connecting with prospects.1. Identify Your Facebook AudienceTo determine your Facebook audience, take a step backward and evaluate the buyer personas of your marketing strategy at large.The good news is that there are a number of ways Facebook can assist in identifying your audience and learning about your buyer personas. In fact, according to Crystal King, Social Media Professor for HubSpot Academy, "The cool thing about Facebook is that you can get really detailed. You can know a lot more about your customers than you might have imagined. Facebook's a platform that has all sorts of really personal information on people."Here's what you need to know to get started with this step of your strategy.Buyer personas are fictional, generalized representations of your ideal customer that help you to better understand your (real) target audience. No matter if you’re in marketing, sales, product development, or services, you can use buyer personas tailor your content, product, or behavior to better relate to your target customer.The same goes for Facebook. By understanding the challenges and goals of your persona, you can determine which content would be best to post and tweak the positioning accordingly.To begin building your buyer persona, interview a diverse mix of customers, prospects, and referrals to gauge their background knowledge of your industry, their biggest challenges, their ultimate goals, and what resources they rely on to learn and develop their skills.Then, take a look at your competitors. Explore their Facebook Pages and evaluate each for a few key factors:Visual qualityPost frequencyContent mixEngagement on posts (likes, comments, and shares)Response time and quality from businessUsing Audience InsightsIf you want a deeper understanding of your persona, Facebook offers a powerful, free analytics tool as a part of their ads platform called Audience Insights. We’ll cover Facebook advertising in the final section of this guide, but you can still use this tool without deploying any ads.Audience Insights allows you to obtain demographic and behavioral data about your audience and that of your competitors. It was created to help advertisers target their ads better, but it’s also a great tool for social media managers and content creators to determine the type of content their audience is looking for.To access Audience Insights, go to your Facebook Ad Manager and click the menu in the upper left corner. “Audience Insights” is located under"All Tools" >“Plan”.facebook-marketing-audience-insightsOnce you’re there, you’ll have to choose between analyzing everyone on Facebook or just people connected to your Page. For the purpose of these instructions, let’s look at “Everyone on Facebook,” but you can always change this later.facebook-marketing-choose-audienceNext, look at the “Create Audience” column on the left side to determine the segment you want to analyze. The United States will be the default location, but you should change this based on where your target market resides. Also, specify age and gender.facebook-marketing-create-audienceThe “Interests” section is a great way to uncover industry and competitor information. You can add general interests or the names of specific Pages. However, be warned that not every Page will be available to analyze if they do not have a substantial number of likes. In the example below, I’m choosing to analyze women in the United States between the ages of 18 and 35 who are interested in yoga and the apparel company Lululemon Athletica.When I explore the data under the demographics tab, I can see the breakdown of job title, college education, and marital status.facebook-marketing-audience-insights-1Under the Page Likes tab, you can get a glimpse into the other Pages they turn to for content. Following the same example, this audience gets workout advice from trainer Kayla Itsines and apparel from Victoria’s Secret and Fabletics.facebook-marketing-audience-insights-2The more you dig into Audience Insights, you can look closer at aspects such as location, device type, and the frequency of engagement on Facebook. Together, all of this data serves as a valuable starting place to evaluate competitors and brainstorm content ideas.2. Create a Social Media Content CalendarSocial media managers juggle a lot of tasks on a day-to-day basis: posting content on multiple channels, responding to comments, monitoring mentions of your brand, reading up on recent trends. The last thing you want is to scramble for a piece of content to post two minutes before your 9 a.m meeting.How do social media managers keep up with all of those posts they need to publish? By using a social media content calendar. Just as it sounds, a social media content calendar is a spreadsheet where you write out posts in advance and slot them for specific times. Aside from keeping you sane, a content calendar will help you keep tracking links organized and make it easier to evaluate the overall mix of format and topic you’re posting.Every great social media content calendar should have a few things:Tabs for each social media platform (you can use this for more than just Facebook)A day-by-day schedule broken down by time slotsColumns for message, link, campaign name, character count, and imageA monthly view to plot larger campaigns