Epiphany Marketing's Strategic Marketing Blog

Convert Your Facebook "Profile" into a "Page for Your Business

Almost every time I speak to an audience of business owners, there’s at least one in the crowd. Someone (or their nephew) created a Facebook “profile” for their business instead of a business “page.”

What’s the difference?

A Facebook “Profile” (soon to be called a “timeline”) has a first and last name, and can send and receive “Friend” requests.

A Facebook “Page” (formerly called a “fan page”) has a business (or organization) name, and other Facebook users can “Like” it.

We’ve all seen it… you log into Facebook and you have a friend request from someone whose first name is “Bob’s” and whose last name is “AutoRepair.” Maybe you did it… you have a personal Facebook account and you’re trying to use it for business purposes.

Well… if that’s you, I’ve got some good news for you. You can migrate your Facebook “profile” into a business “page” and successfully maintain all those relationships you’ve built. We’ll talk about how in a sec… but first…

Why Should I Migrate My Facebook “Profile” into a “Page?”

First, you should only do this if you have a Facebook “profile” (see above) that is really & truly for a business or organization (or public figure — more on that later) rather than for an individual.

But you should do it if that’s the case… and you should do it immediately! Why? Because Facebook will delete the account without warning. It is a violation of the Facebook Terms. And Facebook isn’t obligated to give you any advance notice… when they discover the account (and they will) or it gets reported (think competitors here), it’s all over. All those relationships you built… all the hours you spent sending and responding to friend requests… all the time you’ve spent adding links, posting photos, sharing content, writing notes, commenting on others’ posts, etc… all gone.

To my knowledge, no one has ever successfully appealed the deletion of a Facebook account. You simply get to start over… from scratch.

Now… just because you’ve gotten away with it for a while doesn’t mean anything. Most of the business owners I run into stumbled into this situation quite by accident or without knowledge. And so you may not have realized you were violating the terms (you did read those, right?). And so many businesses got away with this for so long that they felt no need to do anything about it when they discovered the problem. But Facebook has been improving their detection tools, and their ability to discover fraudulent “profiles” has improved dramatically.

Here’s the Good News

Previously, your only option was to create a Facebook “page” for your business, and then invite the “friends” of your “profile” to “become a fan” or “like” the new page. This was time-consuming, tedious, and not always very successful. Some people would “like” the new page right away… others would be confused… it was bad.

Now, however, Facebook has a migration tool to convert your “profile” into a “page.” This is great news for any businesses who want to keep all the relationships they’ve built. But there are some potential “gotchas” along the way (in other words… read everything here before you proceed!!) First, here’s how it works:

1. You follow the link to the migration tool, which works almost identically to the “Create a Page” function. This means you need to choose what type of page you’re creating, complete all the necessary details, etc.
2. Facebook migrates your “profile photo” and all your “friends” to the new page. The “friends” become people who have “liked” your new page.
3. Your “profile” and all its other content (past posts, messages, admin privileges for other pages and groups, etc.) gets deleted permanently.
4. You continue to login to Facebook with the same email address and password.

Important Steps to Take Before You Migrate

Obviously, you’ll want to proceed with caution. While it’s great news that you get to keep those “friends” (as “likes”), you don’t want to accidentally lock yourself out of other pages or otherwise lose important stuff related to your Facebook account.

So… do this first:

1. Set up a new Facebook “profile” (if you don’t already have one) for yourself personally. If you already have one, make sure you can successfully log in to it!
2. Add your new/other Facebook “profile” as an admin on any Facebook “pages” or “groups” that you have either created or have admin privileges for. If you don’t do this, you will permanently lose access to these pages and/or groups!
3. Download a file from Facebook containing all the information from the “profile” you are migrating to a “page.” This way, all your old messages and any other content you’ve uploaded, shared or otherwise created on Facebook will be backed up to your computer before it gets permanently deleted from Facebook.

Once you’ve done the above, then you begin the migration process with the Facebook migration tool. Proceed with caution: Facebook has an “appeal” process for people who perform this step accidentally and then wish to reverse it. But I wouldn’t bank on that actually working.

Feel free to post your questions here (below). Additionally, Facebook has created some helpful resources about migrating your “profile” to a “page” that are worth checking out.

For Public Figures: Authors, Speakers, TV Personalities, etc.

Building a Large Following Associated with your Personal Name? Create a Public Figure Page on Facebook.

Occasionally when I speak about social media strategies for business, we have someone in the audience who has hit the 5,000 “friend” limit on Facebook. We also occasionally do consulting for authors, speakers, television personalities and others who have large followings who have had this happen or are well on their way.

If you intend to gain a large following associated with your personal name, you should consider creating a “Public Figure” Facebook page. A few important reasons why:

• This allows you to maintain a “private” personal Facebook profile with a smaller number of “friends” with whom you can share personally, interact, etc., while maintaining a distinct persona from the “public-facing” version of your social media self.
• You will not hit the 5,000 “friend” maximum. Brands on Facebook are carrying tens of millions of “likes” without being capped. This means you can keep growing your following without limitations.
• Facebook actually becomes more useful and meaningful when it isn’t cluttered with posts from people you don’t really know very well.

If you do maintain both, there’s no reason why you can’t use both to promote your new stuff… but just keep in mind some people will choose to “unfriend” or “unlike” one version or the other of you on Facebook (maybe both) if they’re seeing too much content from you. This is normal. But of course… if you’re delivering great value on Facebook, this won’t be concern!

Want to learn more? We’ve created the Ultimate Small Business Growth Kit to help equip business people like you with winning strategies for growing your business in the 21st Century. Check it out today!

Growing a small business can be a wild mix of challenges.

Your website’s contact form is — if it’s anything like mine — constantly bombarded with SPAM from SEO companies (“We noticed your website doesn’t rank very well in search engines,” or “We can get you to the top of Google.”).

Obviously, today there’s Facebook, Twitter… and now Foursquare. We’ve had e-mail for decades now, but it seems that many small businesses still haven’t figured out how to use it effectively for marketing purposes.

It can be downright overwhelming.

And if you’ve even got a small perfectionist streak (full disclosure: I’ve got a big perfectionist streak), you hesitate to step out because you’re convinced that you’re not doing it correctly.

But… I’m reminded today of the words of one of my favorite mentors, “It doesn’t have to be perfect… it just has to be!”

Get started. If you’re already moving… keep going. As Seth Godin recently pointed out, doing marketing is a powerful way to learn it.

And if you find yourself needing guidance, then get some! But by all means… get started! Today!

Ah summertime… the dog days of summer… sweating under the sun with the smell of coconut and salt water wafting by…

Wait a minute!

If you’re in business, then those may not be relaxing thoughts at all! It’s time to do something about growing your business!

Unless you’re in a tourist industry (in which case you need marketing ideas fast) or other seasonal business, summertime may be a slower time of year. Customers, clients and prospects are more inclined to be on vacation, and that can make it harder to get results with your marketing.

So how can you use the slower season to your advantage? Here are several ways you can use right away!

1. Develop Your Content Marketing Plan

I’ve said it for years. On the web, content is king. Regardless of any search engine “tricks of the trade” you (or your web designers) may have employed, none of them will have any significant long-term effect if you don’t have good quality content.

But having the right content strategy is even more valuable now than ever before.

Why?

2 words: social media.

In a time when Facebook fans are being shown to spend hundreds of dollars more per year than non-fans, it seems awfully attractive to “get some fans.”

But you won’t… not without highly focused content.

Developing a solid content marketing strategy takes time and energy… even if you’ve got someone else to implement it. More importantly, however, it can take some time to get results — particularly if you’re just getting started or if you’ve neglected this for a while. So there’s no time like the present to get started!

2. Revisit Your Contacts Database

If you’re old school, this means whip out the Rolodex and go back through it. Here’s what you’re looking for:

• Potential Joint Venture or Referral Partners: Separate out the non-competitive contacts who serve the same market you serve, or for whom there is significant overlap. For each one, write down 2-3 possible ways that you could each cooperatively reach out to your existing relationships with an offer for the products/services of the other. Teaming up gives you the ability to share resources and gain new prospects at very low cost.
• Customers You Haven’t Heard from In a While: You’re looking for people who used to buy from you, but who dropped off the face of the earth. Set aside an hour or two a week to reach out to them. If they’re local, take ‘em to Starbucks or to lunch. If not, set phone appointments. Find out what’s changing in their world. Your goal here is to listen, not to try to win back their business. This is one of the most valuable exercises any business can engage in since the changing needs and wants of a given customer can be a big clue about what needs to be changed in your business. Maybe a new product or service needs could be rolled out that’s a better match for their needs. Perhaps your message is missing the mark. You won’t know until you listen!
• Happy Customers: Find the people you’ve done a “bang up” job with and reach out to them. Find out: why they bought from you, what thrilled them about your product or service, and who they know that needs what they got from you. After you’ve heard them tell you in their own words about their experience, ask if they’d mind if you write down what you heard them say and post it on your website, Facebook, YouTube, etc. after they approve it. Even better: get a photo (or video… keep reading!) to add authenticity and credibility to their words.

3. Acquire a New Skill

Marketing is a continuous process. It happens all the time in your business whether you want it to or not. Proactively getting the right message out in today’s world involves using some skills you may not have need in a while (or ever before!). Here are some of the most valuable skills you can acquire right now — either by learning them yourself, sending a team member for some training, or hiring someone who has one or more of them:

• Writing better copy. We all need marketing copy all the time. Your Facebook posts, Tweets, blog posts, postcards, in-store promotions, e-mail, newspaper ads, radio spots… whatever you’re doing to reach out… they need to effectively communicate and compel the right people to take action.
• Simple video production. Using video on your website, Facebook posts, or even on YouTube can pack a substantial punch in terms of communicating quickly and powerfully with prospects and customers. Here’s a tip: grab an inexpensive digital device like this Flip UltraHD Camcorder that makes creating and uploading videos a snap! You can get great results even if you’re shaking like a cold Chihuahua when you show up at a customer’s location and shoot.
• Actually using Social Media as a marketer. It’s one thing to share pictures of the kids (or grandkids… you know who you are!) and “like” the latest funny video posted by your friends. It’s another thing to roll out an engaging stream of content from your business fan page or Twitter account that measurably produces new sales.

Incidentally… while I hope that the thoughts here have been useful to you, we’ve got a valuable webinar coming up next week that I’d like to invite you to. If you’re an e-mail subscriber, you’ll get your personal invitation automatically. If not, sign up here and get a free download in the process! It’ll be worth your while… I guarantee it!

Here’s #5 of 5 Ways to Increase Your Response just by changing the words you use!

5. Make ‘Em an Offer They Can’t Refuse

In the spirit of Don Corleone (and with your best hoarse Godfather voice) think about what motivates — no, drives — them… then give ‘em something to do.

Discounts are good, but remember #4 (you gotta pass the “So What!” test). In this economic climate, your discount offer may be a bit more interesting than usual, but even then… really don’t be boring. Irresistibility counts.

Free information is good, as long as it helps them solve their biggest problems. A free trial, free sample, money-back guarantee, free report, “hidden secret,” or something else useful and interesting is key here.

Regardless of the substance of your offer, don’t make the mistake of skipping your close. You know what I’m talking about… you’ve either done it or seen it. A salesperson has a great presentation, then wimps out and doesn’t ask for the business.

In your marketing, your clear call to action needs to be (or seem) irresistible to the right person. It’s your job to know who they are and what they want (notice, I didn’t say, “what they need!”). But when you know it, think up a way to craft an offer that they simply must respond to.

For many small businesses, this means getting creative. Regardless of whether you can or should offer a discount, you can create something useful for them.

One of the more memorable examples of all time was the “Secret of the Golden Box” campaign used by Columbia Record Club when they were testing out television. The campaign was created by legendary direct marketer Lester Wunderman. He knew that just “creating awareness” or “improving brand recognition” wouldn’t maximize the return on investment for the expensive medium of television. So… he told the viewers (usually late at night when the ads were cheaper and the right audience was watching) that Columbia Record Club would send them any album of their choice from the Columbia catalog if they could find the “gold box” on the ad in Parade or TV Guide.

Who was Columbia looking for? Music addicts. What would be irresistible to a music addict? A free hit, of course.

You too can craft irresistible offers tailor-made for your ideal customers. Is it easy? No. If it were easy you would’ve done it by now. Your competition would have done it, too.

But it’s highly effective.

Now go get busy.

Here’s the 3rd of 5 Ways to Increase Your Response just by changing the words you use!

Hey You!

3. Write From “Me” to “You”

I have a shocking revelation for you: Your future customers don’t care about you.

That’s right. I said it. I’ll say it again.

They don’t care about you.

Why, then, is so much of our marketing material all about us?

When we put it so bluntly as this, it seems so obvious. But somehow we get stupid when it’s time to create the ad, write the e-mail, or put the content together for the website. And we make a massive blunder: we make it all about us.

Your audience only cares about themselves. They’re incredibly selfish. But who can blame them? They’re busy. They have things to think about. Stuff to do. If you don’t answer the question right off the bat:

What’s in it for me?

…you’ll lose ‘em faster than a 2-year-old watching C-SPAN.

So… one way you do it is talk to them about them. Put a picture of your best customer in front of you (a person, not a company) and write to them as if he or she were the only human being on the planet.

This means you use a lot of words like

• you,
• your, and
• yours,

and not much of

• we,
• us,
• ours,
• they,
• them, or
• theirs.

What About Writing in the 3rd Person?

If there’s a faster way to put an audience to sleep, I’m not sure what it is. So… just for the record: don’t do it.

Now of course there are exceptions to every rule. But remember: effective marketing is about starting or cultivating a relationship. This happens one person at a time. It happens one-on-one with your marketing–whether you’re speaking to an enormous crowd or sitting across your prospect’s desk. You would never talk about your company or yourself in the 3rd person while face to face, would you?

This might seem like a subtle nuance. But I guarantee you that if you keep in mind the end goal (the relationship) and you intentionally incorporate the “me to you” approach, you will get significantly better response.

Up next in this series: “So What?!”  Subscribe right now so you’ll get it first!

Here’s the 2nd of 5 Ways to Increase Your Response just by changing the words you use!

2. Make a Bold Promise

Ultimately, marketing is about promising something to your future customer (or your existing customer… if you’re working toward repeat business). What you promise and how you fulfill it is completely up to you, but nevertheless, you’re making a promise.

So… since you’re already making them a promise, why not make it boldly?

Why not grab their attention and shake ‘em up a little? (or a lot?!)

Be daring. Get creative. Let them know you are different from the competition.

Recently, I asked a member of our training program to read me the headline from his brochure. This brochure is the primary piece of advertising he uses. He sends it out via direct mail and gets it into the hands of prospects or “suspects” as often as possible. He and I were on the phone during one of our training sessions and so I said to him,

“Eddie, read me the biggest boldest thing on the front of your brochure.”

Can you guess what was there? It was the name of his company. Right up at the top.

Yawn.

That’s what readers do when they see it…

When you spend that valuable piece of real estate on the name of your business, it communicates 2 things to the reader:

1. You’re only interested in yourself
2. You’re boring

Never, ever, make your name, your logo and/or your photograph the first, most prominent thing the prospect sees. The only possible exception to this is if you already have enormous name recognition as an expert with the audience in question. And let’s be real about this. If you already had that kind of name recognition, would you be publishing said marketing piece? (The answer is… it depends. But chances are, you’re not Zig Ziglar, or President Barack Obama, or Gandhi. So don’t do it.)

By changing what he does with that valuable piece of print “real estate,” Eddie could multiply his results. What about you?

We’ve already talked about the importance of using a headline, since it serves to catch the reader’s attention. Making a bold promise is a great way to not only capture their attention, but get them thinking about doing business with you right away!

Up next: how to write your content… If you haven’t yet, subscribe right now so you don’t miss out!

And if you are President Barack Obama or Gandhi, let’s talk!  (Oh wait… Gandhi’s no longer with us… and Obama already won the election…)

You’re on your way to getting better results with the 1st of 5 Ways to Increase Your Response just by changing the words you use! (You may want to take a moment and read that introductory post if you haven’t already.)

1. Use a Headline

Without question, this is the single most important place to focus your efforts first. Some people estimate that as many as 70% or more buying decisions are made from the headline.

What? You’re not using one?

Hmmmmm… could be a clue. Get started. And do it today.

In our work with clients and students, we routinely analyze marketing efforts that aren’t performing up to par. And it’s very common for us to run across great marketing copy that’s absolutely bombing.

The simple fact is: no one will care about (or even read) the rest of the brilliant stuff you write about if you don’t get their attention and pull them in right up front.

• In your e-mails, the headline is the subject line.
• In radio and TV spots, it’s the first phase or sentence the audiences hears or sees.
• In print (and on the web), it’s the 1st, boldest, biggest element of your copy.

It’s your job to sell the reader/viewer/listener on why they should pay attention. And this means that you need to know what’s going on in their world. You need to understand their needs… and more importantly, their wants. You need to understand how what you have to offer them — regardless of what it is — addresses those needs and wants.

And then you need to find a way to use the most compelling, attention-getting words you can muster in order to stop them in their tracks.

If you’re already using a headline and you’re not happy with the results, then it’s time to implement one of the cardinal rules of effective marketing: test everything.

This means write a new headline and test it. In fact, I write dozens… sometimes hundreds of different headlines before deciding which one to test first. And then… even if I’m getting great response, I will test another one. If the response goes up, then guess which one I keep? If it goes down, we go back to the other one. Either way, I’m always testing. Just remember to only change one thing at a time (don’t test a new headline and a different color scheme, for example).

Devote some time to your headlines today. And watch this space for more ways to get more effectiveness out of your marketing!

Looking to get better results out of your website, e-mail, direct mail or other advertising and outreach efforts?

Over the years of working with and training the greatest businesspeople on the planet — small business owners and their teams — I’ve found that this is by far one of the greatest opportunities for growth available. You can significantly impact your bottom line relatively quickly by devoting some attention to this area.

And for the record, I’m not talking about buying more advertising, sending more pieces or redesigning your website. In fact, I’m not talking about spending more at all!

What I am talking about is this:

Change the Words You Use

We all recognize to one extent or another that the words we use — whether they’ll be read, heard or both — have an impact on our results. After all, no one would remember Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s speech if he called it, “We Might Eventually Improve Something.”

But since most of us in the world of small business don’t think of ourselves as great orators or great writers, we tend to approach creating our marketing pieces a bit haphazardly. Ask any web designer which phase of a web project tends to drag on endlessly and they’ll undoubtedly tell you, “waiting on content from the client.” Why? It gets done last because we dread it and pay as little attention to it as possible.

A seasoned marketer, on the other hand, approaches things differently. In fact, I train our clients and students that content comes first — right after you’ve figured out who the target audience is for a given piece. Outreach methods, colors, designs and everything else come last.

So the question becomes:

How Can I Increase Results Just By Changing the Words I Use?

I’m so glad you asked!

Here are 5 key ways you can improve your response from your existing efforts.

1. Use a Headline
2. Make a Bold Promise
3. Write from “Me” to “You”
4. Pass the “So What?!” Test
5. Make ‘Em an Offer They Can’t Refuse

These are cardinal rules of getting results with your marketing. If you’re not doing these each and every time you touch a prospect with any form of marketing or advertising, then you have room to improve!

And over the next few posts, we’ll tackle these elements one at a time. You’ll have lots more detail to work with. So… if you haven’t subscribed yet, do it right now! I’ll personally notify you right away when these get published.