Social Media News, is ‘No Makeup Selfie’ Narcissism or Charity?

Another day, another social media craze that sweeps the globe.  If you checked your Facebook wall this morning, you would have seen hundreds of females posing for a selfie with no makeup on (SHOCK!).  How is this possible you wonder?  Well it is all in the name of battling cancer apparently.  It comes to no surprise that nearly everyone has a strong opinion on this subject, as on one side of the coin it can be seen as a great way to raise awareness, but on the other it can be seen as exploiting a serious subject in order to fill some narcissistic tendencies.

Source: psyschcentral.com

First of all I will identify the good, honest people who have seen this as a bit of fun whilst donating some of their hard-earned cash in order to help Cancer Research.  Although there is a way to anonymously donate to any charity you want, any donation is better than no donation right?  The biggest plus out of this craze is that no doubt Cancer Research will raise an awful lot of money, which is a great thing in the battle against cancer.  It also changes the atmosphere on social media sites, as sometimes they can be quite temperamental places.  Many an argument will take place on a daily basis, but this seems to have created a sense of virtual community.

Away from the charitable aspect of the act, it shows that women do not need an industrial amount of makeup in order to look good.  This is also where the campaign turns slightly negative, and almost a bit sinister.

Cancer is a massive killer in all forms of societies, and do we really need pictures of people in order to ‘raise awareness’.  This term gets used too much, and by now there is no doubt that people are aware of cancer.  Many families have been torn apart by this dreadful disease and the last thing these people want is to be told to be aware of what might be.  The real question burning under this benevolent term is ‘are you going to give money?’  This may seem like a pessimistic view, but there are other ways to advertise charity other than to take a picture of ones face.

Source: don'teatthefruit.com

Eventually the fad will pass, but does that mean that ‘awareness’ will pass?  Of course not and this is why there is something slightly narcissistic about these pictures.  There is opportunity to raise genuine awareness here, but some are simply posting slightly blurred pictures of their best benevolent pout, and then not proceeding to donate afterwards.  In this case the craze becomes detrimental to the cause and just highlights some of the problems in today’s world.  It seems that the folks doing this are just hunting for approval from their peers, and then it just becomes a big cycle of people patting each other on the back in cosmetic approval whilst the genuine issue takes a back seat.

There have been increases in donations off the back of this trend, but so much more can be done here.  There is a question to be raised and that is what an image of someone’s face without makeup ever done for the fight against cancer that the photos of other made up faces haven’t?  There are other people out there raising genuine charity via head shaves, marathon runs, and other ventures.  These create a physical element of community and produce real-life emotions with people making genuine sacrifices in the name of charity.

There have even been examples of people labelling others as ‘brave’ because they are uploading pictures of their faces!  This is terrible when held up to the unimaginable struggle that many go through fighting cancer on a daily basis.  Despite the good intentions by some, one can’t help that a lot of people online are just promoting the wrong cause here, the self. 

The fight against cancer will continue, and as long as people do donate there is hope that one day all forms will be curable, but also this trend will pass.  Unfortunately another trend that won’t pass is the narcissistic society we live in today where a lot of people are only interested in promoting the identity behind thescreen.  Despite the doom and gloom element to this latest craze, there are some great people in society who genuinely want to help others, and unfortunately they slip under the public radar.

 http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/support-us/donate

http://www.macmillan.org.uk/Donate/

Social Media News, Facebook Integrates New Gender Options on Profiles

Facebook took the social media world by storm last Thursday after announcing that people who use the site in US English can now customise their gender options.

Users can now procure the labels 'transsexual', 'intersex' and 'androgynous'. This move by Facebook ensures that people can be referred to as they wish, and socially liberates some pockets in society that previously have not had a voice in the online world.

As well as adding around 50 different terms for their options, Facebook have also made it possible for users to alter their profile when it comes to direct referrals.  A user can now be referred to as he/him, she/her, or even they/their. This is certainly a massive step in the world of social media networking as more and more people across the globe are using sites such as Facebook and Twitter, it is essential that these companies cater for even the smallest pockets of society.

The social media giant posted a message on its diversity page hailing the decision made: "while to many this change may not mean much, for those it affects it means a great deal".  The company also said it worked with gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender activist groups before solidifying a final list of gender options.  This demonstrates another sound move from Facebook, who by reaching out to groups who are usually kept in the public dark, have now catapulted these groups into the watching eye of the Internet.

Chad Griffin, the president of the Human Rights Campaign Foundation welcomed the changes online and stated "over the past few years, a person’s Facebook profile truly has become their online identity, and now Facebook has taken a milestone step to allow countless people to more honestly and accurately represent themselves".  This gratitude towards Facebook was echoed on Facebook's diversity page by current users, but with jubilation also comes queries from other quarters, and this unfortunately opens the door for others who use popular social networking sites as a platform to discriminate.  There have been early signs of this as some have sarcastically requested a dictionary in order to look up some of the gender terms.

Despite this, the majority have reacted positively, and for anyone who wants to change their gender information Facebook offers these instructions:

 - Go to your Timeline (which we sometimes refer to as your profile).

- Click Update Info at the bottom of your cover photo.

- Click Edit in the top right of the section you’d like to change. (The new gender options are only accessible within an autocomplete drop-down menu, so you have to begin typing to see them appear.)

- Enter your new info and click Save.

With plans to expand these new options, it seems that Facebook is looking ahead to a new diverse online world, and it's about time. These changes will indeed create debate amongst people in forums and on Facebook itself, but if there is a positive end result, which allows people to confidently express themselves as who they consider themselves to be, then it represents a step forward in society. In a subject that is regarded as touchy by some, Facebook should be commended in their bold effort to establish themselves as the company that liberated the cross-gender masses online, and it will now be interesting to see whether other big companies will follow.

In a nod towards their relationship status "it's complicated", Facebook may well have expanded its already 1 billion plus target range, through diversity and equality.

5 Ways Businesses Are Using Visual Storytelling on Facebook

Are you looking for creative ways to use visual storytelling in your social media marketing?
Do you have a great story to tell, but you’re not sure how to share it?

Every company has a story to tell.

It could be anything from brand history to internal innovation to fun customer feedback. Unfortunately, few businesses share their stories effectively on Facebook.

In this article I’ll show you five imaginative ways brands are using pictures to tell compelling stories that generate engagement on Facebook.

Why Tell a Visual Story?

A picture is worth a thousand words. It’s a cliché for a reason. When you’re scrolling through the news feed, what catches your eye? Most updates are text, but Facebook users like pictures.

Posting images can help increase engagement and shares on Facebook. Photo posts account for 93% of the most engaging posts on Facebook. They can get 53% more likes, 104% more comments and 84% more click-throughs on links than text-based posts!

Are you using pictures to your advantage? Below are five examples of companies that are wowing their fans with visual stories.

#1: Use Clever Photo Collections

The American Express Facebook page strives to give a strong visual representation of the brand.

That can be a tall order for a service-based company. American Express rose to the challenge by taking photographs of related items, then sharing them with short updates that ask a question or evoke a certain feeling.

Recently, the freezing weather in the US has everyone talking. American Express shared this simple
 but hugely descriptive picture on their Facebook timeline.

American Express connects with fans through a simple image.

Not only does the picture convey winter and snow days, it also subtly includes an American Express card. To me, that picture said, “You’re probably having a snow day, but all you need is your American Express card in case you need to order pizza, download a movie or do some online shopping without braving the weather.”

The company used the same technique on December 23:

Interesting pictures and fun questions encourage Facebook engagement.

The post asked, “Guess whose holiday essentials these are?” It was a clever alternative to the in-your-face holiday posts that had been doing the rounds, and invited plenty of discussion and good-natured responses. Hey, doesn’t everyone need a credit card? Those reindeer vet bills sure do add up.

Tip: Photograph your product with everyday objects or in a live setting to tell a fun story or spark an emotional connection with your community. Take advantage of trends that are relevant to your audience to show how a customer could use your product.

#2: Create Stand-Alone Visual Campaigns

Sometimes a company’s marketing gimmick can take on a life of its own. Several years ago, UK-based insurance comparison site Compare The Market created a campaign around the idea that market sounds just a little bit like meerkat.

They introduced Aleksandr Orlov, a meerkat with a Russian accent and an aristocratic heritage. The campaign was a huge hit. Even though Compare The Market isn’t actually on Facebook, Aleksandr has his own page, with more than 800,000 likes!

The story of Aleksandr, his friends and his family (including the new baby, Oleg) is played out on this fun, interactive page, which drives traffic back to the company website with its clever use of storytelling and merchandising (a free meerkat toy with every purchase through the site).

Compare The Market uses Aleksandr Orlov, a meerkat, to share stories with its audience.

Tip: If you don’t have a mascot, why not tell the story behind your logo, choice of location or something else that makes your company unique? Marketing is not about B2B or B2C anymore, it’s about P2P (people to people).

Your fans want a human connection with your brand and your people. They want to peek behind the scenes and explore your culture, understand your mission and find out what inspires your innovation.

#3: Develop Community Around a Charity

Many businesses make a point of giving back to their community, but TOMS shoes goes much further. The company was founded on the charitable concept that for every pair of shoes they sold, they would donate a pair to children in poverty around the globe.

TOMS makes an impact on their fans by sharing pictures of those they’ve helped. It’s one thing to know a company has a strong charitable background, but seeing it helps fans appreciate the effect they’re having on the world.

TOMS gives their fans a connection to the people they (both the company and its fans) are helping all over the world.

Tip: Share your company’s passion with your fans. Every brand has a story about the inspiration behind the innovation or employees’ passion for company product(s). Use pictures to convey your brand’s core values.

#4: Incorporate Fan-Generated Content

The Starbucks’ Facebook page celebrates the most important people to the company: their customers. Starbucks posts Instagram photos from their fans to give a customer’s-eye view of the brand.

Not only is this a fun way to show customer appreciation, it’s a really clever way of generating fresh, relevant content that brings business and customers closer together.

Starbucks uses fan-generated content to show customers its appreciation.

When Starbucks shared the customer photo above, it generated a massive response with over 78,000 likes, 460 comments and 1,500 shares.

Using customers’ own photos to tell a brand’s story is an inclusive strategy and clearly resonates well with other fans. This authentic word-of-mouth is priceless.

Tip: Your customers are your greatest asset; make them feel like a valued part of your story by sharing their images. Ask fans to use a specific hashtag when they share photos of your brand so you can find them easily.

#5: Share Your History

Positive nostalgia fosters true emotional connection. Reflecting on your brand’s history brings a whole new dimension to your marketing.

IBM has an illustrious history of innovation and the company capitalizes on that by sharing pictures from their archives on their Facebook page. Some of the company’s most liked and commented-on posts are those that show how much technology has changed and how IBM led those changes.

Fans love to see how things have changed over the years.

Showing how your brand started, the challenges you have overcome and celebrating some of your best achievements can make your followers proud to be associated with you and all the great work you have done over the years.

Tip: Don’t bury photos from your past in offline archives. Use them to show how far you’ve come and the moments you’re most proud of. Celebrate those moments with your community and ask them to share their own memories.

Share your stories.

Your brand has some great stories, so why not tell them? Don’t settle for long text updates that get glossed over in the news feed. Tell your story with pictures and rich media so your fans connect with you. Customers who feel more connected to a brand display greater loyalty and are more likely to advocate for your brand.

What do you think? How have you used pictures to share your company’s story? Do your fans respond more enthusiastically when you post pictures? Share your comments below.

Facebook Brand Pages Suffer 44% Decline in Reach Since December 1

Facebook’s December newsfeed algorithm change is so far punishing brand pages, regardless of how interested fans are in that page’s content, according to a new analysis by Ignite Social Media. Ignite analysts reviewed 689 posts across 21 brand pages (all of significant size, across a variety of industries) and found that, in the week since December 1, organic reach and organic reach percentage have each declined by 44% on average, with some pages seeing declines as high as 88%. Only one page in the analysis had improved reach, which came in at 5.6%.

As reach declined, the raw number of engaged users plunged as well, falling on average by 35%. Some pages saw engaged users fall as much as 76%. Only one page in the data set had an increase in the number of engaged users, coming in at 0.7%.

For the analysis, we excluded pages that were in the midst of instituting any significant changes to their content strategy that could impact performance.

Brand Page Reach Now Often Under 3%

Facebook once said that brand posts reach approximately 16% of their fans.  That number is no longer achievable for many brands, and our analysis shows that roughly 2.5% is now more likely for standard posts on large pages. So, a year ago a brand could expect to reach 16 out of 100 fans and now that brand is lucky if they get 3 out of 100.  Chilling news for brand pages who have invested resources to “build” a large following of fans.

A Change in How Facebook Treats Branded Content

Regardless, this is clearly a major change in how Facebook is treating content from brands and it fundamentally changes the promise and opportunities for these brands. If you can’t reach even those who have liked your page and repeatedly engaged with your content, what good is a brand Facebook presence? Should brand activities and budgets go elsewhere, where quality content has a chance of being seen?

To add salt to an open wound, current research from Forrester and Wildfire shows that engaged users are a brand’s best customers.  They are more likely to purchase, recommend and prefer brands when they are socially engaged with that brand.  With fewer engaged users (-35%), brands bottom line are further penalized by the recent changes.

Facebook has indicated that brands should pay to promote their content, but our research shows thatorganic content leads to better buying actions. Paying to supplement content that reaches 16% of users organically, however, is much more palatable than supplementing content that reaches less than 3%.

Intentional or Unintentional?

With brands investing over $6 billion with Facebook, it seems unlikely to me that this algorithm change was designed to intentionally punish content produced by brands. It would be unwise to do that, because the appeal of Facebook to brands is the mix of organic and paid exposure.

Facebook is right to adjust the algorithm, as the user experience on the site is suffering. But those changes should be based on the strength of the content, not on blanket rules based on a suspicion that everyone suddenly wants to see more news articles in their feed.

We have provided our data to Facebook and they are looking into it. Our hope is that other brands seeing this sort of performance problem will share it with their representatives and that this mistake is quickly corrected. Facebook has been changing the newsfeed fairly rapidly in recent months, and I’m optimistic that this is an unintended consequence of these adjustments.

This does, however, come at a difficult time for brands and agencies. Many companies are finalizing strategies, goals and budgets for 2014, and having a dramatic change in Facebook performance at this point in the year complicates those processes.

A Word About Our Data

To ensure we were analyzing each post evenly, we used the API to look at reach and engagement only for the two days after the post went live, while dividing engagement by that day’s fan count to ensure accuracy. While some posts will get more reach after two days, much of the reach is captured in this methodology, as the half-life of a Facebook post has historically been only 30 minutes.

We also excluded any posts that had paid support, as well as cover photo changes and posts that were geo-targeted at the city level.

Facebook News Feed Algorithm Changes…Again

Hold on to your hats, folks. Facebook issued News Feed algorithm changes again and community managers everywhere are fighting the urge to melt their faces off.

The previous Facebook algorithm change, which rolled-out a couple of months ago, responds to activity across your News Feed, including friends and brand interactions. Community managers hustled Facebook Insights to optimize page visibility based on when fans are online and current interaction trends.

Now, this new algorithm endeavors to present more “high quality content” in News Feeds, keeping news articles and current events at the top of News Feeds. ”High quality articles you or others read may show up a bit more prominently in your News Feed, and meme photos may show up a bit less prominently,”Facebook explains in its blog.

What This Means for Brands

Unfortunately, this means the news article from CNN about healthcare reform will likely trump brand page posts. With traffic from Facebook to news sites tripling in the past year, it comes as no surprise that Facebook wants to tango heavily with media and news outlets in what seems to be an effort to out-perform Twitter as the go-to source for current events.

Facebook has not revealed how the formula will recognize "high quality content," but they promise the demotion of memes and uninformative over-shared links. This could create a nice organic middle-ground position for brand posts between news articles and memes, but I wonder how the formula will differentiate between a viral media meme and a viral brand media post.

I see the difference, but will the algorithm?

How to Beat the Algorithm…Again

With Facebook staying mum about how the algorithm works, making it very challenging to find ways to use it advantageously. It seems the change is one more push from Team Zuckerberg for brands to invest more in Facebook advertising in order to compete with media outlets. In good news, the algorithm change includes an updated bumping feature, meaning quality and/or promoted posts could continue to bump to the top of News Feeds with each new Comment and Share, making it more important than ever for brands to create frequent quality content. With high-engaging content, brands with promoted posts could see an increase in reach with this interaction-centered bumping based on Comments and Shares.

Hopefully Facebook will loosen its grip on the how and why of the News Feed change and we will know more about optimizing the updated algorithm for brand success.

Facebook Drives the Most Traffic to Publishers, Beating Twitter and Reddit

There's no beating Facebook when it comes to driving traffic to publishers. The world's largest social network directed 10.4% of traffic to websites this past September, according to data from 200,000 publishers.

Coming in an unexpected second place, Pinterest drove the second-most traffic to publishers with 3.7%. The photo-sharing website drove three times as much traffic as Twitter, which clocked in at 1.2% in September 2013.

Created by Statista, the chart shows the amount of traffic driven to publishers by eight social networks; it is based on data from Shareaholic.

Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.

Image: Mashable composite: iStockphoto, murattasci and hugolacasse; Wikimedia Commons

Facebook Makes Its Messenger App More Like Texting

Facebook is updating its standalone messaging app, Messenger, the company announced Tuesday.

The new version of Messenger, an app that lets users send messages on mobile devices, will be available to both iOS and Android users in the coming weeks. The updated app works a lot like SMS or texting; users can send messages to any of their mobile contacts through Messenger, not just their Facebook friends or friends of friends. This requires app users to include their mobile numbers in order to receive messages from non-Facebook friends.

Recipients who don't have the app will receive messages in their Facebook inbox. The new version of the app sends messages more quickly and better identifies which of your Facebook friends or mobile contacts actually have the Messenger app by listing a small badge next to their pictures in your contacts list. This helps eliminate the confusion of not knowing which platform the recipient will see your message on, according to Peter Martinazzi, the Messenger product manager at Facebook.

Once a mobile number is added, it appears on that user's Facebook timeline under the "Only Me" default, meaning no one else can view it. Users will automatically be searchable on Messenger by their mobile numbers, a setting that they can opt to turn off.

Each version was designed specifically for its operating system and works better for mobile-to-mobile conversations, said Martinazzi. The Android app allows users to swipe between tabs across the top, including messages, contacts and settings. Every icon and button in the app now fits the traditional Android style, said Luke Woods, the design lead for Messenger. Previously, both Android and iOS versions of the app used iOS icons.

On iOS, the app is designed with all three tabs across the bottom. Both apps have new sounds for sending and receiving messages as well as a slightly redesigned app logo and coloring, Woods said.
Both versions also allow users to mute sound notifications for specific conversations and utilize Facebook's Chat Heads feature.

For people accustomed to using standard text and SMS, Messenger still provides benefits, Martinazzi said, For starters, messages received from users not in your contact list still contain the sender's name and profile picture. The messages are also free, and

Facebook is hoping Messenger can provide an alternative to those paying for traditional texting services

Facebook is hoping Messenger can provide an alternative to those paying for traditional texting services, particularly in emerging mobile markets.

"In other countries, one of the big draws is going to be that instead of paying 10 cents per SMS or whatever the cost is, it's free," Martinazzi said. "But we're hoping people in the U.S are going to love it too. And while the free-value prop is not the reason they're going to use it, all of the other features are hopefully reasons they'll like to use this."

The rollout begins Tuesday with a small group of Android users and should be available to all iOS and Android users icn the "coming weeks."

Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.

Image: Nicolas Asfouri/AFP/Getty Images, Facebook

Why It's Important to Stay Active on Social Media

Facebook and Twitter are always there. You can pop in and check your accounts, disappear for a couple of weeks, and when you come back, everything is just how you left it, people carrying on the global conversation without you. What you're not seeing, however, is what your silence is costing you in followers and potential customers. Here are some reasons why it's important to stay consistently active on your social media accounts.

1. It makes you look reliable. Like it or not, if you only post on your social media accounts every once in a while, and are lax about replying to tweets and Facebook messages, people will make assumptions about your customer service ethic. If you can't even be bother to respond to tweets in a timely fashion, why should they believe you'll respond when they have a real need to speak to you?

2. It keeps your followers from getting bored. There's a balance to be achieved with posting frequency on social networks. On one hand, you don't want to spam people, but on the other hand, you do want to look like you're there and participating in conversations. If there are huge gaps in your timeline, people will start to wonder why they bother following you at all, and many will unfollow.

3. It reminds people that you exist. Not everyone thinks about your company all the time, but being active on social media keeps you on their radar, and gives them a gentle reminder that you're still around, and still eager to help them with whatever they need. This means that when it comes time for them to make a purchase, your company name will be fresh in their mind.

If you're going to participate in social media (and you definitely should!) it's better to stick with a couple of networks that you know you can keep up with, rather than signing up for every network and spreading yourself too thin.There's only a finite amount of time you can commit to social media, so use it wisely, and make the effort to participate enthusiastically and regularly. You'll definitely notice a difference in how people respond to you, and that in turn will translate into more shares and retweets, better interaction, and of course more followers, which is what everyone wants. How much time per week do you devote to social media marketing?

Do you notice a difference when you don't keep up with it regularly?

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/8061346

Twitter Changes Direct Message Rules: This Week in Social Media

Welcome to our weekly edition of what’s hot in social media news. To help you stay up to date with social media, here are some of the news items that caught our attention.

What’s New This Week?

Twitter Allows Direct Messages From All Followers: Up until now, you could only send a direct message on Twitter when the other person followed you back. Now you can change your setting so that anyone can send you a direct message even if you do not follow him or her back.

Go to Settings on your Twitter account and check this box if you'd like to receive direct messages from everyone.

Twitter Announces Scheduled Tweets: All marketers who use “Twitter’s ad products can schedule organic or promoted tweets for specific dates and times up to a year in advance.”

"You can create and schedule new tweets from the blue Tweet button on the top right corner of the navigation bar at ads.twitter.com."

LinkedIn Unveils Recruiter Mobile: “A mobile app that helps recruiters interact with candidates like you when they’re out and about.”

Foursquare Opens Ads: “All a business owner needs to do is go to foursquare.com/ads and build their ad—by choosing a great photo of their space and either offering a special or highlighting a great customer tip.”

A business owner can now "tell if someone who saw their ad actually walks into their store."

Pinterest Updates Mobile App: Pinterest has “spruced up the look of the app a bit, and also added a simple way to browse through pins with just a flick of a finger.”

"To try it out, tap any pin in your home feed. Then swipe your finger from right to left to get a peek at the next pin in line. You can go backwards too!"

Twitter Launches App for Android Tablet: “The landscape view fills your screen with tweets, conversations, trends, accounts to follow and more.”

"With a single tap, tweets expand on the right side to show photos, videos and article previews."

Here’s some interesting news to note:

Facebook Lets Teens Share Updates Publicly: Now “when people aged 13 through 17 sign up for an account on Facebook, the initial audience of their first post will be set to a narrower audience of ‘Friends.’ This used to be set at ‘Friends of Friends’.” And teens will also have the choice to post publicly on Facebook.

"When teens choose Public in the audience selector, they'll see a reminder that the post can be seen by anyone, not just people they know, with an option to change the post's privacy."

Here’s some upcoming news to follow:

Facebook to Soon Roll Out New Custom Audience Features: “These new features expand the capabilities of Custom Audiences to allow marketers to deliver targeted ads to people who visited their website or used their mobile app.”  These new features will roll out globally in the coming months.

Introducing Social Media Marketing World: 60+ pros help you master social media marketing! Join Chris Brogan (co-author of The Impact Equation), Mari Smith (co-author of Facebook Marketing: An Hour a Day), Michael Hyatt (author of Platform), Jay Baer (author ofYoutility), John Jantsch (author of Duct Tape Marketing), Amy Porterfield (co-author of Facebook Marketing All-in-One for Dummies), Mark Schaefer (author of Tao of Twitter), Michael Stelzner (author of Launch) and experts from more than a dozen brands as they reveal proven social media marketing tactics at Social Media Marketing World 2014—Social Media Examiner’s mega-conference in beautiful San Diego, California.

Check out this overview of the conference or click here for more details.

What do you think? Please share your comments below.

How to Use Facebook to Sell Your Products and Services

Have you leveraged the power of Facebook to sell your products and services?

Or maybe you’ve wondered if you should start a store on Facebook…

Many businesses are using Facebook to sell.

Check out these three ways your business can leverage a Facebook page to sell products and make it easier for your customers to buy from you.

#1: Create a Seamless Store Experience on Facebook With a Landing Page App

Before you start selling on Facebook, you’ll need to create a Facebook page and not a Facebook profile.

Using a Facebook page for business not only keeps you in compliance withFacebook’s Terms of Service, but also affords you additional benefits that aren’t available with profiles. For instance, with a page you can add a custom tab using a Facebook landing page app so you can build an online store.

The benefits of using third-party landing page apps.

Most landing page apps can be easily installed and are packed with features so you can build and manage your store in no time.

Sell products on Facebook using a Facebook landing page app.

With a landing page app, you can have a store that looks slick and professional, even if you’re not a designer or coder. And it’s easy for your customers to use, whether they’re shopping on a desktop or from their mobile device.

You can customize the look and feel of your Facebook store. Change colors, add a logo and adjust the layout of your products until your Facebook store closely resembles your website.

Outside of creating the look and flow of your shopping cart, securing your transaction data with an SSL certificate is equally important.

An example of a Facebook page without a valid SSL certificate.

While they can be expensive (upwards of $70 or more per year) and difficult to install on their own, most third-party landing page tools include an SSL certificate. They even install it for you, so all you have to do is create your store, add your products and associate your store with a Facebook page.

Now that we’ve gone over some of the benefits of using third-party landing page apps, let’s talk about a few you can use to sell products on Facebook.

Sync a store with ECWID’s Ecommerce Widget.

ECWID is a no-cost to low-cost way for business owners to add shopping functionality to their Facebook page and website.

ECWID syncs with your website store to put your products on Facebook.

ECWID offers a full list of features, but here are some of the more notable ones:

• 30 payment options
• Facebook store app
• Mobile-responsive
• Social commerce sharing
• Sell physical products
• Sell downloadable products
• Customize the look of your Facebook store to be consistent with your website

In just a few steps, you can add an online store to your Facebook page, customize it and begin selling products on your Facebook page.

Here’s an example of a Facebook store created using ECWID.

An example of ECWID installed on a Facebook page.

ECWID offers a great time-saving feature that allows you to sync your products between your website and Facebook page. Update multiple product catalogs on your website, and your customers immediately see the same thing in your Facebook store.

Couple that with an intuitive checkout process for your customers, and you have a valuable tool for selling products with ease on Facebook.

An example of the checkout process on a Facebook page using ECWID.

ECWID offers multiple versions of their online store. Depending on how many products you have and the features your business needs, there’s an option for everyone. To get started, install a basic store and when your business grows, move up to a paid plan.

Import your existing online stores to Facebook with StoreYa.

StoreYa is another alternative. It has a free plan that gives you the ability to add 50 product SKUs, whereas ECWID’s free plan lets you add 10.

An example of an Amazon shopping cart on Facebook created with StoreYa.

What differentiates StoreYa from ECWID is StoreYa’s data integration feature.

This feature allows you to import your products from over 23 popular store platforms such as Amazon, Shopify or WooCommerce. If you don’t have a store on any of these platforms, you can use a CSV file to manually add products. If you have hundreds of products in different colors and sizes, this is a big time-saver.

StoreYa also includes the ability for businesses to have different stores and store managers. This is helpful if you run a business that has a chain of stores, each with its own Facebook page and page admin.

Once you’ve imported your products, StoreYa has a set of marketing tools that can help you get your customers involved and sell more products on Facebook.

An example of StoreYa marketing tools for your Facebook store.

StoreYa Instagram gallery.

While you’ll need one of their paid plans to take advantage of their marketing tools, the amount of time you save by having everything you need to sell products on Facebook in one place might outweigh the cost.

Integrate complete Ecommerce with Bigcommerce.

Not only does Bigcommerce give you control over your storefront, store management and marketing features, but it also uses built-in SEO to help you with improved search placement.

An example of Bigcommerce added to The Home T's Facebook page.

Once you’re set up, use the Bigcommerce SocialShop to install a landing page app and add your products to your Facebook page.

A big plus you get from Bigcommerce is the apps they offer to let you integrateMailChimp, Constant Contact, SurveyMonkey and other platforms into your store.

While Bigcommerce can cost a little more than other ecommerce solutions, they make up for it with their excellent customer service and the fact that they don’t charge transaction fees.

Drive traffic to your retail shop with ShortStack.

While ShortStack won’t let you create a store on your Facebook page, you can use it as a marketing tool to display your products to fans and drive Facebook traffic back to your retail shop.

Examples of different ways to use ShortStack.

While this may not seem like an optimal way to sell products on Facebook, remember, it can be a great promotional tool.

If your customers tend to visit you from phones or tablets instead of desktops, ShortStack has you covered with landing pages that display on mobile devices. Simply post a link to your landing page in a status update to drive customers back to your retail shop.

Third-party landing page apps make it easy for you to set up a storefront on Facebook.

#2: Promote Products or Campaigns With Your Timeline Cover Photo

In addition to selling products through a shopping cart on your Facebook page, you can now use your timeline cover photo to market and sell products to fans.

An example of Mari Smith using her timeline cover photo to drive product sales for her Inner Circle product.

Remember to include a direct link to your product in the image caption so fans who are interested don’t have to hunt for it on your website.

Share a link to the sales page in the caption section of your timeline photo to make it easy for your Facebook readers to find you.

Besides uploading a new timeline cover photo that will show up in your fans’ news feeds, you’ll also want to promote the link to your product from time to time.

How to get the URL of your Facebook timeline cover photo.

To do this, simply click your Facebook page’s timeline cover photo, copy the URL in your browser’s address bar and share it with fans in a status update.

Don’t ignore this simple way of using your timeline photo to get your product in front of your Facebook audience.

#3: Share Product Links in Your Facebook Status Updates

While this may not be the most glamorous way to sell products on Facebook, it does work and you have a few options to use.

Post a link to your product.

First, you can post a link to your product as a status update.

Make it easy for customers to get to the product you’re advertising and to drop it into their cart and check out. Use a deep link that takes fans straight to your product, not just your website.

Be sure not to make the mistake of displaying a product with no link. This can lead to a high abandonment rate in your shopping cart.

In the image below, UnMarketing is using Facebook to sell their book.

An example of UnMarketing selling their book listed on Amazon.

Use the embedded post feature.

Second, you can use the Facebook embedded post feature to embed your public Facebook posts outside of Facebook.

Post a status update that includes a link to your store or a product and embed it on a blog or a website.

An example of embedding a Facebook post.

When your readers click a link included in a Facebook embedded post, they are taken directly to your product or to your Facebook store, and can check out from your store on your Facebook page.

By sharing your product links in your Facebook page updates, you’re likely to drive more traffic and make more sales.

Selling Your Products on Facebook

Regardless of whether you use just one of these methods or combine them, remember that you cannot just set up a store and expect customers to flock to it. Be sure youtest it and have proper marketing ready to go.

Before you post any links to your Facebook store, create a focus group or invite some of your best customers to try out the process before you push it live to everyone.

Have product images ready to post on your Facebook page, add a new timeline cover photo to advertise your store or specific products and publish a status update to let your fans know that you’ve added a store to your Facebook page, so they can check it out.

And don’t overlook leveraging other social networks such as Twitter, Pinterest or Instagram to market your store to users on those networks.

What do you think? Have you used any of these tactics or tools to sell on Facebook? What else have you had success with? Let me know by leaving a comment below.