Busy times for Facebook…it has now abandoned its requirement for business pages to achieve 25 ‘likes’ (or ‘fans’) before becoming eligible for a customised address (‘vanity URL’). Previously, businesses had to generate a minimum number of fans before Facebook would allow them to register a more sensible and searchable business page name, instead of the default URL string automatically assigned to it by Facebook.
This makes things much simpler for business owners wishing to use Facebook to promote their services or products. However, users are still prevented from changing the URL name once registered, transferring it to another party or ‘squatting’ on a registered address with a view to selling it in future (in the case of the latter, Facebook will find and delete it). Word has it too that users won’t get access to Facebook Insights (their demographic and statistical analysis system) without the previous minimum level fan base of 30.
In addition, Facebook now allows business owners to see the numbers and names of fans who have chosen to share their business’s posts with others.
Another move sees Facebook launching a ‘Subscribe’ button that lets users follow the public updates of others, regardless of whether they are a ‘friend’ of that user. This is seen to be especially beneficial for those in prominent public positions, education, media and business, who may not wish professional boundaries to be crossed by becoming ‘friends’ with fans (and vice versa), but who wish to share posts with them.
Facebook is also opening up its links with Twitter to allow Facebook posts to be replicated on a nominated Twitter account, although some of us already use social media management tools such as Tweetdeck and Hootsuite to manage their posts across different platforms.
Are you finding social media a challenge for your business? Contact me for advice or support with your social media activity: karen@karenwisdom.co.uk
