Advice and How-To's Especially for ACTORS!

Welcome- I am so glad you're here! Bite-Size Business is a program created to help actors navigate the business in a way that is fun, empowering and educational.

Use the "Blog Topics" on the left to find hundreds of articles covering all areas of acting, or browse the archives for a title that sounds groovy. Feel free to leave a comment- and be sure to check each post to see if a comment was left.

And if you enjoy this blog...

• Subscribe (<--- look to the left!) so you can be updated when future articles are posted.
• You can also share this article by clicking on an icon below. Cheers!

Thursday, July 14, 2011

8 Ways to Promote Your Facebook Page

* Bookmark and Share

Recommended Reading:
Facebook Marketing
Idiot's Guide to Facebook
Facebook for Business

One of my most popular and widely read blog posts has been on Why Actors Should Have a Professional Facebook Page. As a follow up, I thought I would give you a little bit of information about how to promote your page, so that your friends and family will know how to find it.

Step 1) Visit your own Page and click “Like.”
Believe it or not, when you create a professional page, you’re personal account does not automatically “Like” it. So, you need to do this manually. When you click “Like,” this activity will show up on your news feed, and all of your Facebook friends will see it. It will look something like this:

“Erin Cronican likes Erin Cronican - Actor.”

Step 2) Send a FB message to all of your artist friends and supporters, as well as patrons of the arts in your area, inviting them to “Like” the Page.
By using the Facebook messaging system, you are reaching out to a large group of people en masse, which achieves a lot in a short amount of time. Each of the recipients will receive a message in their inbox, and if you include a link to your Facebook page, your page’s profile picture and the main description will be visible in the body of the message.

Recommendation: when doing so, please instruct your friends not to “reply all” if they want to reply. It can get frustrating for the other recipients to be caught in a reply chain. Instead, mention that it is a mass message and ask people to send comments or questions individually.

Note: Clicking “Invite Friends” via the Page is not enough -- this simply puts the Page into a queue deep within the notifications section of Facebook, which is really hard to find. You must send a mass email to them via the Message feature in order for your friends to take notice.

Step 3) Post the link to the Page via your Facebook wall via the “Status” feature.
This is another way to get your Page into your friends’ news feeds. Say something like, “Check out the brand new Facebook Page for my acting career. If you want to get updates & invitations, please click “Like!”

Step 4) Announce the Page via Twitter, LinkedIn, your blog and other social networks.
Be sure to include the full link to the Page when mentioning it -- you’d be surprised how many people post “Check out my page on Facebook!” on Twitter but then neglect to include a link.

Step 5) Add the link to your new Facebook Page to your email’s signature line
One of the best ways to let people know about pages you want them to visit is to include links at the bottom of your emails. As an example, here’s one of the signature lines I use for an acting newsletter:

Erin Cronican, SAG / AEA / AFTRA
Home: http://www.erincronican.com
IMDb: http://www.imdb.me/erincronican
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ErinTheActor
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ErinCronican

Step 6) Email your friends & family and let them know about the Facebook Page.
Once you’ve created your signature line, you’re ready to send out your Facebook link via email! Emailing your friends is a good way to get in touch with people that you have not yet “friended” on Facebook, or those who are on Facebook only rarely.

Recommendation: If you have friends who are not on Facebook but would like to receive updates, I’d suggest creating a mailing list especially for them, and send them periodic updates via email. Consider using a newsletter program like iContact or Mailchimp.

Step 7) Be sure to “Like” other people’s pages, and be active in communicating.
One of the best ways to develop relationships online is to abide by the “golden rule” - do unto others as you would have done unto you. If you want someone to “Like” your page, go like their page first. Then, leave a link on their wall (or in a FB message) and ask them to do the same. But “liking” a page is not enough -- make sure you comment on their posts, or click “like” when you see something you enjoy. A little support goes a long way in building a network.

And, most importantly...

8) Be active on your page!

Make sure that you are posting interesting information about your career, and give people a glimpse at what your life is all about. Create show invitations, post video, share production photos, link to blog posts -- the more active you are on your page with relevant information, the more you’ll be able to attract and keep followers.

A few last words of advice:

• As much as you can, try to do your social media promotions during daytime hours (8am-8pm is a good rule of thumb.) These are the hours that most people are online, so you’ll have the greatest chance of having your message read.

• Don’t do all of these tips in one sitting. You want to spread out these 8 tips over a few days, so that you don’t overwhelm your friends with requests.

There are lots of other ways to promote your page, but I thought these 8 would be a good number to start with. I hope it’s useful -- if you have any stories about successfully promoting your page, please leave a comment!


Have a comment or question? Leave it by clicking below!

Erin Cronican's career as a professional actor and career coach has spanned the last 25 years in New York City, Los Angeles and San Diego. She has appeared in major feature films and on television, and has done national tours of plays and musicals. She has worked in the advertising & marketing departments of major corporations, film production companies, theater magazines, and non-profit acting organizations. To learn more, check out http://www.theactorsenterprise.org.


4 COMMENTS - Click to READ:

johndiv45 said...

This are really helpful tips, I personally have trouble promoting my business page, thanks for these wonderful tips. Facebook For Businesses is a good idea after all.

plastic cards said...

i read this many times, thank you for your great blog.

Tommy said...

Excellent Tips, I implemented one yesterday and can already see results.

Erin Cronican said...

Thanks, Tommy - I appreciate that you stopped by and left your feedback!

Post a Comment

Thanks for leaving your thoughts- I will respond as soon as possible! (Be sure to click the "Subscribe by Email" link to be notified about my response as well as others'...)

THE FINE PRINT

This content is offered under a Creative Commons by-NC-ND License.That means you're free to share it, republish it, refer to it, include it in your wedding vows, whatever... - PROVIDED you:

a) you don't change anything.
b) you don't use it to make money.
c) credit me (with my blog's name, and a link back to my site.)
d) it's not required, but it would be awesome if you'd email me to let me know you're using it, and then I can help promote your post!

If you are copying an article in its entirely, you MUST include the following acknowledgment at the top of the post: "This blog was pulled, in its entirety, from Bite-Size Business for Actors, a blog published by The Actors' Enterprise. To learn more, visit http://www.BiteSizeBusiness.org."

To view the license, click here. To learn more about Creative Commons, click here.


Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-
No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License
.



Follow Bite-Size Business for Actors
Directory for New York, NY
Blog Directory
TopOfBlogs
TopOfBlogs
Blog Directory
Blog Directory & Business Pages - OnToplist.com