Written by Ellie Mirman, blogger at the HubSpot Internet Marketing Blog and Inbound Marketer at Internet Marketing company HubSpot.

So you’ve got a Facebook Business Page… Now what? Building a Business Page is one of the best ways to increase your presence and engage more potential customers on Facebook, but it’s more than just clicking “Create Page”. As you venture out into the social media world, here are a few tips to help you promote your Page and reach more of the 100 million Facebook users.

Create a Facebook Business Page worth becoming a fan of.

To quote David Meerman Scott, nobody cares about your products and services (except you). People care about how you can help them solve their problems. To extend that thought to Facebook, don’t use your Facebook Page to talk about your products all the time. People aren’t interested. Instead, create some interesting, useful content that people want to receive. This could be blog posts, whitepapers, or simply discussions.

Take advantage of the viral nature of Facebook.

Facebook provides great opportunities for viral marketing. Facebook creates a “News Feed” of your friends’ activities on Facebook, like posting photos, changing statuses, or becoming fans of a Page. What this means is that every time someone interacts with your Page in some way, that action is published across all of their friends’ News Feeds, giving you exposure to that person’s entire network. The best way to take advantage of this is to engage your users and give them more opportunities to interact with your Page, for example, by fostering discussions, inviting them to events, allowing them to post links. Leveraging the power of the News Feed is a critical part of establishing your presence on Facebook and building a fan base for spreading your messages.

Don’t forget to draw on your network.

All promotion does not need to take place within Facebook. Feel free to email your opt-in e-mail list, blog about your Page, and post a link to your Page on your company website. The best people to help you build up your fan base for your Business Page on Facebook are those people already subscribed to your blog or engaged with you in some way.

Optimize your Page for Facebook – and public – search.

Another way to get found and build your fan base is through Facebook’s search. Facebook – like all other search engines (Facebook was noted the most used people search engine) – has an undisclosed algorithm that ranks search results in a way that aims to return relevant and useful results to the searcher. The best think you can do to show up higher in these search results is to build a large following of your existing fans, because entities with a larger network tend to show up higher in search results. Also note that Facebook Business Pages are public and indexable by search engines. This potentially gives you exposure to those searching in broader search engines like Google. To make the most of this, start lots of engaging discussion threads on your Page, so that if someone is searching in Google on that very topic, they can stumble upon your Facebook Page and discussion thread.

Get an extra push with Facebook Ads.

If you want to give your Business Page an extra push at the beginning, you can also buy some advertising slots. Note that Facebook ads are much less effective than the viral marketing options on Facebook, and the click through rate for Facebook ads is notoriously low. Facebook advertisements show up on the sidebar as users browse through their friends’ profiles, groups, and so on. When you set up your ad, be sure to include “social ads” – these draw on a users’ network to see who in their network has already engaged with your Page and shows, for example, “Jim Smith is a fan of Company ABC” next to your ad, potentially improving your click through rate. Also, make sure that you give viewers a relevant reason to click on your ad by inviting them to connect with industry peers or offering a free whitepaper, for example. Also in this vein, note that you can target your ads by age, gender, interests, geography, and other factors, to reach users who may be more interested in your Business Page.

Bonus Tip: Measure your results.

Once you’ve built up your Facebook Page it’s good to measure what you’re actually getting out of your social media program. Some metrics you may want to measure are:  number of fans, page views, and unique users. Facebook’s “Insights” provide some of these metrics, including demographic data. You’ll also want to track actions beyond your Facebook Page, namely, website traffic, leads, and sales that come from Facebook. Hopefully some of these tips will help you get your Facebook Business Page off the ground and build it into a valuable channel for reaching your potential customers.

All this said, social media, including Facebook, is by no means static. It is constantly changing and we, as marketers, are constantly learning the right way to leverage these channels for marketing. If you want to see what we at HubSpot have done, you can become a fan of our Page at http://facebook.hubspot.com. And, if you’re looking to network with other marketers on Facebook, you may be interested in the Facebook Pro Marketers group, a group for marketers passionate about marketing. Perhaps there we can continue discussing ideas for marketing on Facebook.

Wikipedia’s definition of Facebook – a social networking site where users can join networks organized by city, workplace, school, and region to connect and interact with other people. People can also add friends and send them messages, and update their personal profile to notify friends about themselves.

I got on Facebook when I was in college (when only college students could be members), and used it to keep up with hometown friends, keep up with other students I had met, join groups that I cared about, send messages to friends and post fun pictures and wall posts reminiscing from the weekend before. Now that I am out of college and working, I still use Facebook to keep up with friends (maybe a few less pictures and groups), but I also use it now for networking and more business purposes. My personal and professional life are definitely colliding!

Facebook has made itself easier for professionals to use with groups, discussions and ads, but I think the best thing you can do for your business on Facebook is Facebook Pages. Facebook Pages help to build a business presence and engage with customers, co-workers, partners and fans on Facebook. Users can express their support by adding themselves as a fan, writing on your wall, uploading photos, and joining other fans in discussion groups. You can send updates to your fans regularly — or just with special news or offers. Add applications to your Page and engage your users with videos, reviews, flash content, and more. More importantly, it is free and easy!

To get started:

• You need to be a member on Facebook
• Go to facebook.com/business/?pages (or go the bottom of the page and click “advertising”)
• Click “create a Facebook Page” and follow the directions
• Upload a picture (best to use your logo for this)
• Fill in company information
• Take it from there…add photos, discussions, notes, video, etc. (you should see all the categories to edit right there on the page or if not click “edit page”)
• Click “more applications” if you would like to browse what other applications are out there (like RSS Feeds) – you can look or type in the search box
• Publish the Page (in red lettering at the top of the page)
• Ask co-workers and customers to become fans and start getting the word out

Now you know how to get started with a Facebook Page, how do you manage it? We over here at ReachForce just put up our own page, and are still working to get the word out. Luckily, our friend Ellie Mirman from HubSpot has some experience. Look for a post from her soon on how to manage your page and get fans. HubSpot already has 797 fans!

The Web, of course, has made getting in touch with the media much easier. However has anyone had luck with emailing a journalist (you don’t know) a story and actually get published? If so, what is your secret? In most cases however, (in the words of David) “PR people are spamming journalists with unsolicited and unrelenting commercial messages in the form of news releases and untargeted broadcast pitches.”

Don’t worry, David is here to help with The New Rules of Media Relations:

• Nontargeted, broadcast pitches are spam.
• News releases sent to reporters in subject areas they do not cover are spam.
• Reporters who don’t know you yet are looking for organizations like yours and products like yours-make sure they will find you on sites such as Google and Technorati.
• If you blog, reporters who cover the space will find you.
• Pitch bloggers, because being covered in important blogs will get you noticed by mainstream media.
• When was the last news release you sent? Make sure your organization is “busy.”
• Journalists want a great online media room!
• Some (but not all) reporters love RSS feeds.
• Personal relationships with reporters are important.
• Dont’ tell journalists what your product does. Tell them how you solve customer problems.
• Does the reporter have a blog? Read it. Comment on it. Track back to it (send a message whenever you blog on a subject that the reporter blogged about first).
• Before you pitch, read (or listen to or watch) the publication (or radio program or TV show) you’ll be pitching to!
• Once you know what a reporter is interested in, send her an individualized pitch crafted especially for her needs.

Now your rate of getting noticed will hopefully be much more successful when you use these tips. And now let’s fast forward a bit, you have used the New Rules and started building relationships. How do you pitch to these journalists now? David has a few tips on this as well…woo hoo!

• Target one reporter at a time.
• Help the journalist to understand the big picture.
• Explain how customers use your product or work with your organization.
• Don’t send e-mail attachments unless asked.
• Follow up promptly with potential contacts.
• Don’t forget, it’s a two-way street-journalists need you to pitch them!

Mainstream media is still very important and hopefully you will follow the New Rules and tactics to start getting noticed. To close the same way David did, “you need to be smart how you tell your story on the Web-and about how you tell your story to journalists.”

Next week we will cover chapters 17 and 18 on Blogging to Reach Your Buyers and Podcasting and Video Made, Well, as Easy as Possible.

This chapter couldn’t have come at a better time.  Leigh Anne and I were just talking about this.  We need to update our ‘News’ page on our site.  It feels so old school and is really due a 2.0 update.

David opens the chapter with a very important message – “…all kinds of people visit your online media room, not just journalists.  Your buyers are snooping around your organization by visiting media pages on your Web site.  Your current customers, partners, investors, suppliers and employees all visit those pages.”  He goes on to say, people go to the online media room to know what’s current about the organization.  I totally agree.  If there’s no updated news does that mean the company isn’t doing well or is stagnant?  Maybe.

As we are about to take on a site overhaul, here’s some of the best practices David suggests that we’ll be implementing:

• Needs Analysis – Before the reconstruction begins we’ll be identifying persona of the people visiting this new media room.  Once identified we will then be sure to include content that meets the needs of each persona.
• Optimized news releases for searching and browsing – gone are the days of the aged list of press release headlines.  When updating we must always consider SEO best practices.  This spot has a wealth of good information, we’ll be sure to leverage this.
• Background Information that Helps Journalists Write Stories – This is often called a press kit and typically includes – company history, executive bios, investor profiles, board of directors, product and service information, analysts information/coverage and links to recent media coverage.
• Multimedia content – some like to listen, some like to read, some like to watch and listen.  We want to make sure we have what their looking for.
• List Executive appearances, conferences and tradeshow participation – we want to be sure the journalists know where we’ve been, where we’re at and where we’re going.
• Don’t forget the bloggers – all news releases going forward will include bloggers distribution lists as well.
• Avoid Jargon, Acronyms and Industry Speak – we’ve covered this in an earlier chapter.  Everyone sees through it and would appreciate us all just speaking in common terms we all understand.

Are we forgetting anything here?  All of these ideas are great, right?  For more ideas for a great media room, check out Hubspot’s Press Room.

In Chapter 5 we learned the New Rules of News Releases and how news releases should be written for your buyers. Building off of the New Rules, after you have written for your buyers, now you need to reach them. David gives tips on how to develop a news release strategy in order to reach buyers directly.

Here are some of his tips:

Write about pretty much anything that your organization is doing.

• Have a new take on an old problem?
• Serve a unique marketplace?
• Have interesting information to share?
• CEO speaking at a conference?
• Win an award?
• Add a product feature?
• Win a new customer?
• Publish a whitepaper?

Publish news releases through a distribution service.

• Business Wire
• Market Wire
• PrimeNewswire
• PR Newswire
• PRWeb

We have been using PRWeb for our latest news releases and have gotten descent response. What service have you had success using?

Use RSS feeds.

• Many distribution services provide this to make your news release available to other sites, blogs, journalists and individuals.

Simultaneously publish news releases on your web site.

Link wherever possible.

Focus on the keywords and phrases your buyers use.

• Think about your buyer personas.

Include social media tags.

• Like Technorati, DIGG and del.icio.us

Tell the media, your clients and your prospects.

• Repurpose content for all audiences.
• Example: Tweak content for use in company newsletter.

I’ll close with what David said about the importance of reaching your buyers.

“Implementing a news release strategy to reach buyers directly is like publishing an online news service – you are providing your buyers with information that they need in order to find your organization online and then learn more about you.”

We’ve talked a lot about writing best practices here on The B2B Lead.  B2B Marketers out there, pay special attention to this chapter.  Gobbledygook words – that’s what David calls jargon-laden phrases.  Words like groundbreaking, industry-stand, and cutting edge are good examples of gobbledygook words.  David goes on to say that business-to-business technology marketers are the worst offenders.

Here are some interesting findings from a study David highlighted in this chapter.

388,000 press releases were analyzed over a 9 month period.
74,000 of them had gobbledygook words
9895 of them used the words next generation
over 5000 of them used words like flexible, robust, world class, scalable, easy to use
between 2,000 and 5,000 used words like cutting edge, mission critical, market leading, industry standard, turnkey and groundbreaking

WOW!  And isn’t the goal of doing a news release to stand out in the crowd?  Well we’re not if we’re using these words.

Here’s a few more tips – another study highlighted in this chapter, this time a survey of general business and trade editors.  These are these people that we sent out announcements to.  Are you using these words?

• “Leading” (used as an adjective) – 94% of editors feel it is overused
• “We’re excited about…” – 76% of editors feel it is overused
• “Solutions” – 68% of editors feel it is overused
• “…a wide range of…” – 64% of editors feel it is overused
• “Unparalleled” – 62% of editors feel it is overused
• “Unsurpassed” – 53% of editors feel it is overused

David does a great job of summarizing the importance of writing for our buyers, so if you don’t mind, I’d like to steal a couple of lines for the book to close this as well.

“Your online and offline marketing content is meant to drive action, which requires a focus on buyer problems.  Your buyers want this in their own words, and then they want proof.  Every time you write, you have an opportunity to communicate and to convince.  At each stage of the sales process, well-written materials combined with effective marketing programs will lead your buyers to understand how your company can help them.”

If you’re worried about your use or overuse of gobbledygook words in your news releases, check out Hubspot’s Press Release Grader.  This free tool helps you make sure you are getting the most out of every news release you write.

I love that David is now giving us actionable things to think about for our own businesses.  So many times we read business books with a lot of commentary but no real action items or ideas on how to incorporate these things into our existing strategies.  In this chapter he lists 8 ideas on creating thoughtful content.  Here’s a few I really liked –

• Do not write about your company or products.  Thought leadership is not advertising.
• Based on your goals, decide whether your content should be free or behind a form.
• Write for your audience.  Use examples and stories.
• Choose a great title that grabs attention.
• To drive  viral marketing effects, alert appropriate reporters, bloggers, and analysts that content is available for download.

Are you already using some of these ideas or is there anything else to add to the list?

Next week we will be discussing chapters 12 and 13 on how to write for your buyers and how web content influences the buying process.

I saw a great presentation earlier this summer at the MarketingProfs B2B Forum by Michael Stelzner titled “Attracting Quality Leads with White Papers.” Michael has generated 60,000 qualified leads with his program, so I thought I would share some of his ideas.

Here are Michael’s 6 mistakes Marketers make in regards to whitepapers:

1. Product Marketing Curse – Using a technical document for lead gen.
2. Marketing the Wrong Content – used car salesman approach, highly focused on company and product.
3. Post and Hope Syndrome – You need to drive prospects to the content, “If you build it, they will come” only works for Kevin Costner.
4. Brief Landing Pages – long form with little content
5. Immediate Access to Excellent Content – No registration, no follow-up emails
6. Not Integrated with Other marketing Efforts – Not promoted through email or direct mail campaigns, left out of newsletters and blogs

Michael gave some compelling reasons why whitepapers should be a part of your marketing mix. To get to the point, they are a proven lead gen tool, help educate your buyers and position your company as a thought leader.

Here are Michael’s tips for writing and publishing whitepapers:

• When you sit down to write the whitepaper, you first need to determine which type of problem you are going to solve: People problems, Process problems, Quality problems or Absent problems. Then lead with the challenges faced by the ideal reader.
• Discuss the solution is generic terms. People need to think that they need a solution like yours before you can sell them your specific solution.
• Include a “what to look for” list – This is your silver bullet where you create a condition where only your product or service can succeed. Be sure to call out points where you deliver over your competition.
• Only at the end of the whitepaper do you mention your company and the product or service you are promoting. Do be sure to have your branding on every page as well as the landing page.
• Save the call to action for the very last sentence – make it compelling, actionable, and measurable
• Think of the first page of your whitepaper as a movie trailer – show them enough for them to be willing to pay (fill out a form) for the rest.
  • Identify the ideal reader, summarize the challenge, summarize the solution, state the goal of the paper
  • AVOID: detailed explanation of the solution and features, introduction of your company, humor
• When developing a title, keep in mind “what’s in it for me?” and the 3 U’s:
  • Ultra-specific
  • Unique
  • useful to readers
• Test the title with current customers, they will be the best judges.
• Have long landing pages (this is against a lot of what we are hearing right now, but Michael has the results to prove that it works)
  • Provide a significant amount of content at the top of the landing page with a very short form (Michael suggests just name and email) at the bottom. This way readers are already hooked by the time they get to the form and more likely to fill out the form to get the rest of the whitepaper.
  • It is also great for SEO
• Don’t allow immediate access to the whitepaper. Wait 30 minutes to send the pdf directly to the email address given. This does two things. First, it provides a sense of anticipation. Secondly, this is a way for you to verify that they gave you a valid email address, not mickeymouse@mickeymouse.com.

I am working on implementing some of Michael’s ideas. He shares a lot more in his book, Writing White Papers. Do you have any suggestions for what works in writing and promoting whitepapers?

I saw something recently that said it was ok to use the word free in an email subject line? So I went looking for other information to support that. We all know that spam filters love the word free. I’m guessing we can thank the B2C marketers for that…

I ran across a MarketingProfs newsletter article, , titled Email Marketing – Top 10 Language Pitfalls and Top 10 Power Words. Although some of these are obvious, I thought it was worth passing on as it can’t hurt to be reminded of what we should and should not say when writing our email copy.

Here’s the Top Ten Language Pitfalls in Email Marketing Messages:

10. Typos and misspellings due to poor editing
Wow. With spell check, this really happens? Surely every email automation vendor out there offers spell check, right? Slow down and take the time to make sure your spelling and grammar are correct. You don’t want to say from when you mean form.

9. Subject lines in ALL CAPS
All caps in email is equivalent to shouting. You would never shout at your customers or prospects in person, would you?

8. Use of punctuation marks and numbers within the subject line
When I find myself needing punctuation in a subject line, I instantly think it’s too long and I’m trying to say too much. I think Eloqua says best practice is 6 words or less in a subject line.

7. ALL CAPS within the message body
Remember, no need to shout. Use other creative means such as color, different font, or buttons/banners/backgrounds for emphasis if there is an explanation, offer, or condition not to be missed.

I agree again on the shouting. I tend to bold important phrases or link them to our call to action.

6. Excessive or unnecessary Power Word repetition; especially of power word #1
See below.

Hint – power word #1 is FREE

5. Copy written in passive rather than active voice
We need to get to the point quickly in email. Front-load sentences and paragraphs with action verbs and eye-catching benefits.

Don’t forget people also read emails in a preview pane. Make sure you are getting their attention immediately. I try to include a call-to-action link in the first 2 lines too.

4. False or inflated sense of urgency
The very nature of email implies expediency, immediacy. Your audience is already in a mindset to quickly access and process email messages. Nudge, don’t shove. In our B2B communications, what is really all that urgent anyway?

3. Vague calls-to-action
“Click here” or “visit our Web site” are too general; they don’t reinforce the subject of your message or your offer. Nor do they instill confidence in where a responder will land. Be specific, such as “download your free white paper” or “see the movie preview” instead.

This is also why I use key messages as links. It stands out and reinforces my offer.

2. Exaggerated Modifiers
Like “Amazing,” “Revolutionary,” “Great,” “All New,” (when just “new” would suffice) and even “Special” and “Important,” especially when used in the subject line, can land your email in the junk folder. Hype is a hallmark of spam and is unnecessary when your messages are targeted and relevant.

Fluff. That’s what these words are. Everyone looks past them so I think you’re wasting your time and valuable real estate if you’re opening with these words.

And the number-one pitfall:

1. Including the word “spam” in your message (such as “this is not spam”)
The very existence of written justification that your email is ethical calls its legitimacy into question. I can’t think of a more self-defeating proposition than stating your message is NOT what you fear it will be.

Really? Surely this is a B2C thing, right?

Top Ten Power Words

Here are the top ten power words for your email advertising and communications:

10. New – Appeals to our basic human curiosity to seek novelty.
9. Save – We all love a bargain.
8. Safety – Connotes reliability; appeals to basic human needs.
7. Proven – Justifies your claim, removes fear of the unknown.
6. Love – An all-time favorite.
5. Guarantee - If you have one, state it. It iron-clads your offer.
4. Immediate (Now, or Instant) – Instant gratification is the expectation online. If it can’t be found, completed, or received almost immediately, you’re offer is in the wrong channel.
3. Results – Provides rationalization for instant conversion.
2. You – Remember WIIFM? Your audience wants to hear about what’s in it for them, not you. Articulate your benefits in personal, conversational terms.
And the number one Power Word:
1. Free – Surprised? Probably not. Because this is the time-honored, most potent motivator in direct response, be particularly vigilant of overuse. Just a dash’ll do. Strive to optimize placement, and test if necessary. So Free is back in. And not just back in but listed as the #1 Power Word.
Are you using it? Have any metrics to prove it’s ok and working?

***These great tips were contributed by Karen Talavera, president and founder, of Synchronicity Marketing

Attention Conservation Notice: The following post provides a list of offers that B2B Marketers can use to improve campaign results.

OK, it’s a new year and you’ve got your freshly scrubbed ReachForce-built database full of highly-targeted prospects. Now what? If you found yourself busy reacting to end of year crises and didn’t greet the New Year with a properly planned, integrated lead generation campaign, you can still juice your Sales pipeline with a well written email and a strong call to action.

Unfortunately, for most B2B marketers, therein lies the challenge. What to offer? Where can I find a fresh and compelling white paper to serve up, because, well, every B2B marketer knows that a white paper is the number one offer in our arsenal. But if your product marketing group is as busy as mine, it’s not always easy to get your hands on new content to support your latest campaign.

Don’t be tempted to resort to a Sweepstakes offer like “enter to win an iPod.” Most will respond for the wrong reasons or avoid responding entirely because the offer is “too good to be true.” Aim for something that is relevant to the prospects’ daily job. Here are a few quick ideas:

1. Free Books: Identify a new business or technology book that is related to your prospects’ responsibilities and your product or service and give away 10 to the first respondents.
2. Webinar: Recruit a spokesperson and schedule an educational Web cast.
3. Newsletter: Offer a subscription to your newsletter with tips and case studies.
4. Video Tutorial: Grab your Flipcam, an expert, and a white board and shoot a mini-tutorial.
5. Podcast: Think video tutorial with a voice recorder instead.
6. Expert Guide: Ask an all-star group of experts to send you their best advice or anecdotes, package it up into a “guide” and publish.
7. Quick Assessment: Provide a list of questions that can be used to assess a problem.
8. Free Resources: Pull together a few free online tools, previously published white papers and articles, then offer access to the compendium.

Got any other creative ideas? Share them with us.