Facebook Privacy Settings, How to Change Them

Many of you have asked me how to adjust the privacy settings for your Facebook personal profiles. Facebook tends to make changes to this feature a lot, so it’s good to go in every now and then and make sure your are set the way you want them.

Here’s a Step-By-Step guide to customizing your privacy settings:

Click the Account tab in upper right corner of your page, and select “Privacy Settings.”

Under the Connect on Facebook header, click “View Settings” to view and change what people see when they search for you on Facebook.

Anyone can search for your Facebook page, so it is important you only display appropriate content—your potential employers don’t need to hear about your hangover or see pictures from that weekend in Vegas. And, as Facebook becomes a more prominent tool for business networking, it is a good idea to keep it professional.

Go through each setting and select “Everyone,” “Friends of Friends,” “Friends Only” or “Customize.” The “Customize” option will allow you to adjust your settings to specifically show or hide your activity from certain friends.

To control the settings on what you share on Facebook, click “Back to Privacy” in the upper left corner.

Under the “Things I Share” heading, you can customize who sees what you post on Facebook. This includes photos, videos, status updates and information about your likes, connections and relationships.

“Things Others Share” is where you control who views what friends post and share on your profile—wall posts, pictures and comments.

Lastly, it is also very important that you adjust the Privacy Settings for your “Contact Information.” For example, it is a good idea to make your address and phone number visible to “Friends Only.”

At the bottom of the “Things I Share” section, there is a link that will allow you to change the privacy settings on your existing videos and photo albums.

I suggest keeping your profile picture visible to make it easier for friends and family to find you. The privacy of other albums you share is up to you, but again, remember to keep it professional!

If you have any problems with your privacy settings or have any other questions about Facebook…Just Ask Betsy!

Tags: Facebook, Facebook Privacy, Facebook Privacy Settings

Posted in Facebook | 1 Comment »

June 21st, 2011

How to Change the Order of Facebook Page Tabs

The new Facebook Business Pages layouts are now the only layout available. If you had not upgraded your Page until now, you may be dismayed to wake up this morning and find that it was updated for you!

So, there are a lot of places on the web where you can get help and information about all the new changes, including the new Photo Strip (I wrote a blog about how to deal with it here), updates visibility, and more.

Thanks to a lot of really smart people out there blogging and posting, I have been able to configure most of the Pages I manage pretty easily. But I just couldn’t figure out how to change the order of the tabs, which are now listed on the left hand side of the page.

All the information I gleaned from Facebook’s help sections, blogs and forums kept saying that all I needed to do is to drag and drop the tab titles while logged in as an admin. But it didn’t work!

So, then I discovered that you can only rearrange tabs if you have 7 tabs or more. So, for one of my accounts, I had 7:

1. Wall

2. Info

3. Photos

4. Coupon

5. Sweeps

6. Like Us!

7. Recipe

But I still couldn’t move them around!

Then, the light bulb went off! You need 7 tabs IN ADDITION to “Wall” and “Info” (which you can’t move).

Solution:

I added ‘Discussions” and “Video” (two tabs I’m not using right now) and voila! I can now drag and drop the tabs! The ones that I’m not currently using are hidden unless someone clicks “More”.

Here’s what it looks like now:

So all I have to do is click “More” then “Edit” and I can move them around.

Note: only tabs created with iFrames can have little favicons, so we are rebuilding all our FBML pages so our list can look really great.

If you have questions or comments, please feel free to write!

Tags: Change Order of Facebook Page Tabs, Facebook Page, Facebook Page Tabs, Facebook Pages

Posted in Facebook | 4 Comments »

March 10th, 2011

How to Control the New Facebook Pages Photo Strip

Many of you have upgraded your Facebook Business Page prior to the automatic update on March 10. So now you are wondering what to do with that funny Photo Strip at the top of the page.

First thing to understand: Facebook will display the most recent photo upload in the Photo Strip, whether you added just a new photo to an album, created a new album, or published a photo in a Status Update.

You may have noticed that the photos are automatically cropped to fit into the small thumbnail-sized spaces.

So how can you control the Photo Strip? It’s easy!

1. Select the five photos that you want to appear on your Page all the time.

2. Create a special album for the Photo Strip Photos

3. Re-size all your photos as close as you can get to 97×68 pixels.

4. Upload the photos to the new album (select them all at once instead of one at a time).

5. Do not click “Publish” unless you want your 5 new photos to be published to your fans’ newsfeed. Just click “Skip”

6. Voila, your Photo Strip should look pretty good. You can change the order of the photos in the album, but not on the Page.

7. Now, if you want only the photos in your Photo Strip album to appear all the time, you must hide any new photos that you publish right after you publish them. It takes a bit more time, but it’s worth it.

Remember, with an estimated 132.5 million US web users on Facebook this year; almost 57% of all Internet users are members. So, your Facebook Page is very important. Although most fans won’t go back to your page after they “Like” your page unless you direct them there, Facebook Pages are public and are just as important to your company’s branding as your Website has always been.

To see how the Be Visible page looks now that we’ve worked on the Photo Strip, click here: http://www.facebook.com/BeVisibleAssociates

I’ll be publishing more tips on the new Facebook Business Pages. Stay tuned!

Posted in Facebook | 6 Comments »

February 28th, 2011

Simply Put: How to Really Use Facebook Page Insights

With Facebook Business Pages, unless you are running ads, you don’t get a ton of data to work with. However, Facebook is starting to deliver more analytics (called Insights) on status updates for Page owners. Here are some tips on how to use them:

Create an Editorial Calendar: Since I recommend that brands and businesses shouldn’t post Facebook updates more than once per day, it’s pretty easy to create a calendar.I usually plan updates 1-2 weeks in advance. That gives me something to post every day without having to create updates on the fly, but it’s a short enough time to be able to react to something in the news, great content I may find, or changes in the business.

Expand the Editorial Calendar into a spreadsheet. Your spreadsheet should contain these columns:

(more…)

Tags: Facebook, Facebook Pages, Social Media, Social Media Marketing

Posted in Facebook, Social Media | 2 Comments »

August 16th, 2010

Simply Put: Why Businesses (Should) Love Facebook

Businesses and brands should love Facebook. Why? Because Facebook enables companies to talk to the people who are actually interested in what they have to say.

The old school of advertising was this: Blast out a message to an audience defined by geography and media consumption habits and pray you reach the right people at the right time and enough times, enough times that they consider a purchase in your category.

But with Facebook, it’s not simply age, geography and media consumption habits that define an audience; it is interests that define an audience.

On Facebook, when members complete their profile info, they enter their likes and interests such as:

• Activities

• Music

• Books

• Movies

• TV Shows

And, members add brands to their profile, too, when they “Like” Facebook ads that appear on their page or through updates shared by their friends,

So, for brands, on Facebook it’s as easy as pie to find the people who would be most interested in your message and reach them through Facebook Ads. And even for smaller businesses, with Facebook Ads, the playing field can be leveled.

For example:

• If you sell pizza, you can reach people who “Like” Dominos Pizza and Pizza Hut.

• If you sell children’s clothes, you can reach people who “Like” The Children’s Place, Pottery Barn Kids, and Toys R Us.

• If you sell beauty products, you can reach people who “Like” Sephora and Avon.

Your brand becomes part of the community of people who want to see your messages.

What’s even better, you can quickly and inexpensively learn by trial and error what your fans respond to by testing different kinds of updates and keeping detailed records of how many “Likes” and how many comments (and what kinds of comments) your posts receive. And, Facebook is providing more and more robust tracking information to help you analyze the engagement.

So, what do you do with that info? Stay tuned!

Related: Simply Put: Why People Love Facebook

Tags: Facebook, Social Media, Social Media Marketing

Posted in Facebook, Social Media, Social Media Marketing | 1 Comment »

August 12th, 2010

Social Media Marketing: The Cool Brand Factor

How brands and businesses use Social Media has everything to do with how the decision makers use Social Media themselves. People in business who have grown up using Facebook, for example, understand that the Social Media is not just a useful tool, but it’s the way people define themselves in front of their peers. And people want to be associated with Cool, including Cool Brands.

Although Facebook has just reached the 500 million-members marker, it has just begun to define itself in terms of business. So, it’s up to each company and brand to figure out how to use it effectively. When I consult with a client, I often ask them to spend time on these 3 questions:

1. Who is my target market?

2. Where do they hang out on the Web?

3. What would make them want to identify with my brand in front of their audience?

In other words, what can I do to make my brand “Cool”?

Old Spice is the perfect example of how an “uncool” brand found it’s “Cool Factor”. The aging brand has been around since the 1930s, a dinosaur in the men’s grooming and cologne market. But they decided to use Social Media as Generation Y does:both as a conversational tool and as a way to define a new public image. Actor Isaiah Mustafa created a dashing spokesman character-wearing only a towel-who responded to users comments through a series of witty short videos, each taking less than seven minutes to shoot.

The series not only created a bond between users and the brand, but also suggests that the Old Spice customer is similarly funny and cool. On Twitter, Isaiah Mustafa’s Old Spice character is acting just as any young person would: posting random musings rather than Old Spice info: “I can’t stop thinking about axes and mountains and wolves and football. And old steam tractors.” Rather than set up a conversation between the customer and the brand, the Social Media team at Old Spice mimicked the Social Media voice of their ideal customer. Check out Old Spice on Facebook to see what they are doing.

If you are in the position to make marketing decisions for a company or brand venturing into Social Media, spend some time identifying your “Cool Factor” before you get started. Even if you don’t have the budget of an Old Spice, taking this one preliminary step with make the rest a lot easier.

Tags: Cool Brands, Facebook, Old Spice, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Twitter

Posted in Facebook, Marketing, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Twitter | 1 Comment »

August 9th, 2010

Simply Put: Why People Love Facebook

We love Facebook because it makes it easier to share information with more people at the same time than any other tool we have. Why is that so revolutionary?

Because a family photo, an event you’re attending, an accomplishment you’re proud of, something that drives you crazy, your latest purchase, the song you’re listening to, the meal you’ve cooked, the photo you’ve taken, the news story you find interesting, the cause you’re involved in, the day you’ve had…now can be shared with everyone you’re connected to, instantaneously.

Nowhere else is that possible. Not by email, not by text, not by chat. Nowhere.

And, this is the key: after a while, it feels weird to do anything without sharing it with your audience of family, friends, co-workers, classmates, friends of friends, etc.

That’s what makes Facebook so powerful. 500-million-people powerful. What the founders have tapped into, albeit accidentally is: humans are natural performers….we crave attention from the minute we’re born.

So, if you are wondering why Facebook is such a hot topic, now you know. But you already knew that, right? (Please share this article!)

Next: Why Businesses Love Facebook

Tags: Facebook, Social Media

Posted in Facebook, Social Media | 2 Comments »

July 29th, 2010

Social Media Helps NYC Dentist get New Patients

How can Social Media help my business grow? This is a question I get asked a lot. And I can quote lots of examples of how businesses are successfully using Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. But use Social Media to grow a medical practice? That may seem a little far-fetched, right?

I have a client who is a dentist. Not only is he a great dentist, he’s also a lot of fun. His personality combined with is skill is the reason why his patients (myself included) love (and don’t dread) going to the dentist.

I helped him develop a website, and now create a blog. For many months, he asked me over and over, “I don’t understand what blogging is going to do for me”. I really felt, and so did his friends, that my dentist’s natural love of conversation and pontificating on any subject is the perfect combination of traits to make a great blogger!

So, finally, armed with a laptop, the doctor began to blog, usually on train on his way home. In the meantime, I set up a Facebook Fan Page for him and invited all his personal friends to become his fans (of course, his children were his first fans!).

The first blog was posted last week and simultaneously appeared on the doc’s Facebook Fan Page. Lo and behold! On her wall, some of his daughter’s Facebook friends saw the post and said “Hey! I didn’t know your dad is a dentist! I need a new dentist!” Guess what? New patients!

So, what’s the moral of this story?

• Blogging increases the visibility of your business, even if you are a medical professional.

• Your friends’ friends are a great source of new customers (patients).

• Social Media works!

Do you have any similar experiences you can share?

Tags: Blog, Blogging, Facebook, Social Media

Posted in Blogging, Facebook, Local Business, Social Media | 4 Comments »

December 3rd, 2009

If I Copy & Paste Text from Another Website onto my Own, will I Hurt my Search Engine Rankings?

Question: I am building an eCommerce site where I will be selling products that appear on other sites, including manufacturers’ sites. If I cut and paste descriptions from one of those sites onto my own, will I hurt my Search Engine rankings? Jonathan Rosen, Give.bz

My instincts are to say “Yes, it would hurt your rankings.” In SEO (Search Engine Optimization), duplicating content from one site to another is never recommended under any circumstances. However, if you are adding lots and lots of items onto your eCommerce site, it sure would make it a lot faster and easier to copy and paste rather than having to create a unique description for every single product.

I’ve done some research, and my instincts were right. It is a bad idea to duplicate content from one website to another, especially when you don’t own both sites. But to make your life easier, go ahead, copy and paste; then tweak the text and make it your own. This will serve to:

1.   Protect your hard-won search engine rankings.

2.   Your site will have a consistent “voice” throughout.

3.   You can make your descriptions more compelling than the original.

4.   You will have total control over all the content on your site

For more interesting tips on SEO and eCommerce, click here:

Guide to Optimize your eCommerce Site for Search Engines

Tags: Copy & Paste, ECommerce, SEO

Posted in Facebook, SEO | No Comments »

August 1st, 2009

Can Twitter Help my Local Business?

I spend a lot of time these days talking to local businesses about Social Media and discussing how they can use Blogs, Facebook, Twitter and other channels. And that can be challenging because in many cases people have a hard time seeing the connection between online social activities and their businesses. Sometimes even in spite of the fact that they are familiar with one or more social channels already for their personal use.

I have discovered that telling stories about how other businesses are using Social Media to be the best way to get to that “AHA!” moment where the possiblities are suddenly staring them right in the face.

I came across this article in the New York Times that I think successfully illustrates the opportunities for local business to successfully use Twitter. Take a look and let me know your thoughts!

Click here:

Mom-and-Pop Operators Turn to Social Media, The New York Times

Tags: Blog, Facebook, Local Business, Social Media, Twitter

Posted in Blogging, Facebook, Local Business, Social Media, Twitter | No Comments »

July 23rd, 2009