AngularJS and Bootstrap CSS: The Symbiosis of AngularJS and Web API

In 2009, Google introduced a new application, AngularJS, and changed the field of website development. As we mentioned in the introductory blog in this series, it is a structural framework of dynamic web-apps. Developers love it and it works for an array of website building projects and is especially useful for single page applications. Now, let’s discuss why Angular is even better when partnered with Web API.

Every now and then a product comes along that just makes web design easy to implement for the ordinary man on the street. AngularJS and Web API are pioneers in their respective fields, simplifying HTML and HTTP respectively. 

AngularJS by Google

For any business that only runs a single page application, AngularJS will simplify and address the many areas of struggle experienced. Run as an open-source web application framework, you have the assistance of Google developers and companies to assist with errors and coding issues. It provides the person who is writing the code the opportunity to view it within the client-side model-view-controller (MVC) architecture, making it easier to navigate. This gives the coder the opportunity to access components usually limited to rich internet applications. Angular is built to ensure user interfaces and software components by using programming that specifically performs the “what” function. The business logic side is managed by imperative programming, which works off of algorithms. This simply means that the outcome changes with certain inputs and that the program aligns itself to that. 

This, of course, means that a business has access to all the bells and whistles that multiple-page users have, in a single page application. The fact that it is an open-source web application means that the maintenance and upkeep are up to Google to implement, which leaves your hands free to run your business. 

Web API by ASP.NET

This is quite possibly one of the most important aspects to take into consideration when you are trying to get your website out there. Web API uses the full features of HTTP including passing various content types, using ETags through versioning and concurrency and using and creating URI templates and then creating Task URI’s in the response. Web API is most commonly known for its ability to define browser cache controls. Getting your business to the next level will mean controlling the browser cache. What this means is that, when you have an active Web API that has a browser control cache, when people search for information on the internet and your hot words, keywords, or key tags are highlighted, the chances of your pages coming up first will be much higher than without the browser cache control. The combination of the browser cache control and the use of ETags make it almost certain that when anyone searches the products or services you offer, your website will be displayed first. 

The Symbiosis

It is recommended that these two programs be installed together to ensure that your business is able to leverage from both aspects of programming. First, getting a proper application in place and second, ensuring that the whole world gets to see it. Without the combination of these two aspects, chances are very good that your website will be one in a million with very little chance of actually being noticed. You also want to ensure that when it is noticed, your potential customers have full access to the entire page without experiencing technical issues. The potential increase in revenue streams is most certainly enough to consider applying these two programs together.
 

Join us next week for the sixth and final blog in this series when we wrap our argument on why Angular is such a fantastic alternative programming application.

AngularJS and Bootstrap CSS: Single Page Applications and Responsive Web Design

An old saying, “the first impression is the last impression” certainly holds true in the business world. Even when you provide quality services to your customers, if the impression of your website is poor, your business will be affected. Impressions matter to your customers  and in today’s world, your website is your calling card in many cases.

The era of static websites and apps are replaced by the dynamic and they have become one of the best ways to boost any business. People want to move quickly through any website with fast processing speed.

In 2009, Google introduced a new application, AngularJS, and it changed the field of website development. As we mentioned in the introductory blog in this series, it is a structural framework of dynamic web-apps. Developers love it and it works for an array of website building projects.

Angular shortens the HTML code of a website and merges all the web pages into the single page application. Single page applications are currently the most popular sites as they reduce the HTML code and are not a burden on the browser, even as it quickly loads the other pages of the site. It is an open source, high-level web application framework that is particularly developed for business owners to improve the quality and functionality of the website.  

The goal of the AngularJS is to simplify the application development and testing based on the client side with rich internet application components through the single page application (SPA). The SPA converts the website into the best quick and responsive website. Angular reduces the browsing load from both server and client end. The exact state or layout of a website remains the same and uses the code of the index page for the layout to load once. When the user wants to visit another page on the same website, only the data from the new page will be loaded while the layout remains. The function of the single page application is the same as the applications used in smartphones and tablets. The applications load quickly and in the same layout in smartphones and tablets. 

With a single page application, business owners can create a quick and responsive website, which can be particularly appealing to businesses with e-commerce sites. The products are loaded quickly along with the online transaction pages with fewer loads on both the client and the server side. The two-way data bandwidth is saved and, most importantly, millions of users can visit the website simultaneously without any timeout of the server.

Benefits of AngularJS Single Page Applications:

• Two-way data binding

• Templates

• Full testing environment for developers

• Strong server communication from client end

• Deep-linking of web pages

• De-coupling client side and server side

• Model view controller (MVC)

• Easy to adopt for the User Interface (UI) developer

• Strong community

Since Google developed the Angular application for business owners all over the world for the quick loading of the web pages and faster transactions, the single page application has become the best way for quick, responsive websites. Not yet convinced of the benefits? Stop back next week when we talk about Angular and Web API by ASP.NET and how they can work really well together.

AngularJS and Bootstrap CSS: Running The Rule For Your Projects

So far, this blog series has provided an introduction to AngularJS and why it's a good investment as well as detailing why developers like it. So, now let’s talk about why one may want to use it for new projects.

Fifteen years ago, it would have taken a brave developer to bet on JavaScript emerging as the de facto front-end language of the web. These days though, there's not a development team in town that doesn't lean on it heavily at several points in the stack.

As adoption increases and the language matures, the need for structure in handling JavaScript across a project has become clear. All too many early projects ended up devolving into unmaintainable messes of spaghetti code. The need for frameworks, as pioneered by other languages such as Ruby and Python, swiftly became obvious to all concerned. 

Several strong JavaScript frameworks soon emerged and in the last couple of years the number of new entries to the market has truly exploded. Business owners and IT leads are understandably reluctant to bet the farm on whatever is the latest shiny new toy making waves on GitHub, however. 

They're looking for something stable, battle tested in the field, with an active community and a clear product road map. This approach narrows down the candidates considerably. Partly due to its high profile backing from Google, AngularJS is the JavaScript framework at the top of many people's lists. Let's take a quick look at some of the reasons you might consider looking at AngularJS for your next project.

A Large Developer Talent Pool

Angular is established enough by this stage that an in-depth understanding of its best practices is virtually de rigueur for any high-level JavaScript programmer. Basing your project on Angular will help you attract some of the best front-end developers in the business to your team. How to locate Angular specialists was discussed in the second installation in this series if you’d like some guidance.

Easier Onboarding for New Developers

Angular's modular component structure and commonly shared set of assumptions means that your project comes with an easily understandable, clearly defined scaffolding straight out of the gate. New team members will have no trouble instantly grasping this intuitively and starting to productively contribute. The days of month-long hand-holding sessions just to get up to speed will be in your past.

Improved Code Reusability

No developer worth their salt relishes re-inventing the wheel across projects. Using AngularJS encourages your team not to waste time repeating themselves. Instead, they'll naturally lean towards developing tight, reusable components that are easier to troubleshoot and can be re-used down the line to increase velocity on future projects. 

Mature Testing Environment

Taking the time to set up adequate testing is all too often kicked to the curb on JavaScript heavy projects. The resulting chaos that ensues when changes are required has burned more than a few teams in the past. Angular comes with solid and well thought out testing best practices so that you can be sure of getting your project off on the right foot from the start. 

That's just four of the obvious benefits AngularJS can potentially bring to your project. You'll discover plenty more as you take it for a spin Let's finish with a quick word on a classic real-life use case where Angular might be a good fit. 

It's not necessarily perfect for every project, but if you're tasked with building a single-page application that relies on delivering value through a heavily responsive interface, Angular JS is going to save you an awful lot of heartache. Begin by letting some of your team experiment with it for prototyping on larger projects and you'll be able to safely see if it might work for you.

Hopefully you’re learning just how valuable this language is becoming. Join us next week to learn about the benefits of AngularJS single page applications.

AngularJS and Bootstrap CSS: Developers

It is getting easier by the day to find developers who have adopted AngularJS. Whether the people you are working with are freelancers or full-time employees, there is a compelling argument for them learning AngularJS now or in the near future. 

As we discussed in part 1 of this series, AngularJS is JavaScript web application framework. Originally developed as an open-source project aiming to create a framework that improves on the traditional uses of HTML, AngularJS is now maintained by a number of Google employees while retaining its open-source origins. As a result, you will find developers and freelancers have drastically varied levels of knowledge on the subject, depending on their interest in open-source projects. Those that do use it tend to love it.

Why Developers like Angular

AngularJS allows developers to bridge the gap between HTML and the functionality of single-page applications. It makes it easy to produce declarative UI and eliminates a lot of the difficulty that comes with managing dependencies, resulting in easier parallel development. Angular also makes data-binding more straightforward than any other framework out there: it removes the need to create complex models for connecting the UI to the treatment of data, and your developers will be able to spend less time writing the same code repeatedly. These are just some of the key factors that make AngularJS an attractive prospect for developers. It’s an ongoing project, and the end goal is to vastly improve testing and provide structure for the entire application building process. 

To put the advantages more simply, AngularJS allows developers and freelancers to write code that works easily with different controls and, combined with Web API, functions more smoothly on a range of devices. 

Locating Angular Specialists

You may be wondering how to find developers and freelancers who specialize in AngularJS, or who at least have a decent level of knowledge to build upon. The answer is that front-end developers have been rather slow in adopting AngularJS in large numbers, but specialists are out there. Despite being around since its early stages in 2009, Angular is still working to win over the majority of experts. The main issue seems to be that developers and web development freelancers in general are hesitant to invest great amounts of time and money in a framework that is still relatively new. It has undergone numerous changes across different versions, as one would expect, but there have been issues. For example, the Angular team’s Chrome extension, Batarang, was released in 2012. Since Angular has been updated, the plugin has been left behind and is incompatible with recent versions, irritating some users.  Despite this, however, there are several good sites to visit in order to find freelance AngularJS developers, such as Elance, Guru, and Toptal. For some helpful hints on finding the perfect freelancer, check out one of our past blog posts, Tips on Choosing the Best Freelance Site for your Needs.

Developers have primarily been migrating to AngularJS - or at least picking it up - from backgrounds in Java, as the styles are fairly similar. However, the aim of Angular is to simplify complex tool selections like the ones offered by JavaScript, so the appeal does extend to experts in a range of languages. In time, this simplicity and the diversity of AngularJS will win over developers at both the front and the back end, and will save hugely on costs by making the development process much simpler. 

Stop back next week and check out the third installation in this series which will delineate the benefits of AngularJS in even more detail.

AngularJS and Bootstrap CSS: It's Time to Invest

AngularJS, also known as Angular, is an application maintained by Google as well as a series of individual developers and corporations to address many challenges faced in developing single page applications. Angular is an open source web application framework, the main purpose of which is to simplify the development and testing of the application by providing a framework for the model view controller (MVC), that is, the client-side architecture, and also in commonly used internet applications. Angular implements MVC pattern so as to distinguish presentation, data, and logic components.

Angular adapts and utilizes traditional HTML to present dynamic content, whereby it allows the automatic synchronization of models and views by using the two-way data binding. Therefore, the framework insists on its testability and performance being up-to-date. There are many versions of AngularJS, such as versions 1.3 and 2.0, which are modified to accommodate more features.

Purposes of the AngularJS

AngularJS makes the application testing of equal importance to application writing. For the writing to be easy, the code structure should not be a hard nut to crack. The application also aims at separating the client side of the application from the server side. This helps the progress of the project being done and both sides are easy to use. It also helps in designing, writing, and testing of a business logic. That is, it aids in building an application. Most businesses make use of this advantage since their work has just been made easy for them. It also works by separating the document object model (DOM) manipulations from the framework logic. This helps improve the testability of the code.

AngularJS Bootstrap

Also known as the Bootstrap CSS, AngularJS Bootstrap makes the front end web development faster and easier. Bootstrap is designed so that it can be used by just about anyone, without any skills needed. It scales all your applications with a single code base and it is also applicable for use in your phone, desktop, and tablet.

Advantages of Bootstrap

With the use of this awesome application you get to use the beautiful documentation for HTML and CSS components. This makes it suitable for use by many writers and businesses since the work is really presentable. Bootstrap is commonly used in online sites due to its extremely user-friendly features.
 

Both Angular and Bootstrap are applications in which it is worthwhile to invest. The Angular application provides security to the user company because of less hacking to the company’s database. Angular is known for its declarative programming and is therefore used for building user interfaces and connecting the software components. There is also the imperative type of programming, whereby it is well suited for defining the business logic. The task of the AngularJS Bootstrapper occurs in phases after the DOM has been loaded. 

Also, the two way data binding features have its perks in that it reduces the amount and length of the code written and hence relieves the server of the backend responsibilities. The scope also modifies the HTML expression view and model by use of a controller. With all of these features, and many more, a company that uses the AngularJS and the Bootstrap can attest to how well this works for them. Also, you don’t have to worry about the versions being inadequate since, after every modification, you can always update your Angular application.

 
Hopefully, this AngularJS introduction and why it is a worthwhile investment has left you wanting more! Stop back next week for the second post in this blog series, when we talk about AngularJS and why Developers like it.

Tips for building a following on Facebook, Part 6: Advanced Analysis

Since this is the last post in this series, let’s quickly review that which we’ve looked at so far.  In part 1 we built our foundation, identifying our social media objective and strategy. In part 2, we identified our target audience. Part 3 addressed the importance of, and provided some tips on, managing the cornerstone of your social media blueprint: content. Part 4 provided an overview and the basics of using Facebook Ads and part 5 delved into analytics. In this final installation, we’ll use advanced analysis methods to help us identify ways to use social media for identifying growth opportunities for your business.

Discover your Mentions

Finding pages or people that mention your Facebook page brings the opportunity to develop content and nurture that relationship, ultimately leveraging another page’s audience.

By identifying the most frequent posters on your business page or the page of your "mentioner", you can get a good idea of whether or not your target audiences overlap significantly and where your outreach should start. One should look many factors to ensure that the most relevant stories appear in the news feed, including which posts are receiving the most engagement (likes, shares, comments, and link clicks).  Also take a look at the posts which are receiving the most engagement from people who like both the person/page that posted and the page that was tagged.

Locate Pages With Similar Interests and Large Audiences

Have your competitors reached potential customers that you have not? There’s a good chance that the answer is yes. So, how do you reach them too? You could run an analysis on a big chain store that would be similar to your business and use the information to tell you the techniques they are using to bring in customers on Facebook. You can also learn the kind of audience they have with whom you could connect as well.

This sounds like cheating, I know, but it isn’t. It’s simple and smart…and it’s the world in which we live now. And it doesn't have to be nefarious, it can be done in a friendly way because you can share your audience with them, if you choose to do so. Competitive analysis is one of the easiest and most under-utilized types of analysis. There is so much that you can learn and leverage from businesses similar to yours.

Conduct a side-by-side analysis in order to determine how you measure up against your competitors or other successful companies. Identify their trends in engagement and track that which is working and that which is failing for them. If you can do this on an ongoing basis you will get a very clear understanding of target influencers, industry friends, how and when to mention them on your page, and how to leverage their audiences.

Timing

Once you have identified the pages from which you are looking to pull an audience, pinpoint the peak times that your audience is engaging on Facebook and then cross reference with qualitative research on the industry-aligned pages you are looking to target.  Are they active at similar times? Mentioning or tagging other pages during peak times to ensure that your content displays effectively on both news feeds is going to make a huge difference in growing your followers.

Test and Measure

Now, did it work? In order to find out, you will want to determine which posts received the most engagement and analyze whether or not tagging the other pages or brand names boosted your interaction per post. This will help you to qualify the value of engaging with certain pages over other ones. You will, of course, want to conduct a similar analysis on organic versus paid posts or ads.

Don’t forget to take into consideration your ultimate content goals for Facebook. You will want to see not only the post inviting the most engagement, but also the type of engagement. If tagging a specific page led to a lot of picture views, for example, but no actual link clicks it may be time to reevaluate if the goal of the content was, in fact, to get people to click.  

Use Insights

By asking specific questions, you can evolve your planning process and social media strategy.  Simply Measured says to use a “SWOT analysis”:

Strengths: Characteristics of your social presence that give you an advantage over competitors. Where are you exceptional? Where are you being proactive, not reactive?

Weaknesses: Characteristics of your social presence that put you at a disadvantage in comparison to competitors. What are you not doing that you need to be doing? Which minimum industry standards are you failing to achieve?

Opportunities: Holes in your competitors’ social strategies that you can fill. What are some successful competitive strategies you’ve learned that you can mimic or improve upon? Which social network capabilities are you not taking advantage of fully?

Threats: Possible competitive impediments or encroachments to the quality, reputation, singularity, and overall value of your cross-network social presence. Where is your brand at risk on social? Where do you need to devote resources immediately?

In this day and age, it is imperative for businesses to have a strong website and social media presence. I hope that this series has provided a comprehensive look at all the aspects involved in creating a strong social media and marketing plan from the initial objective to strategy, audience, content, ads management and analytical tools.  Now, go forth and build your following!

Tips for building a following on Facebook, Part 5: Analytics

So far we’ve determined our objective and our strategy (part 1) and we have considered our target audience (part 2).  In part 3 we emphasized the importance of and provided some tips on managing content and in part 4, we provided the basics on Facebook Ads. Now, let's get into the basics of Analytics.

So, what are analytics and why are they helpful? Facebook is constantly evolving, both in regards to how content is distributed and how users interact. For those using social media as a marketing tool, the challenge is determining how to best reach and engage your audience.  One of the keys to success in this arena is knowing how to use your data.

Measure your Real Audience

Who is your effective audience? Those who see your content are not limited to those who like your page. Reach, which measures the unique number of people who saw content associated with your page, can provide that answer for you.

Over time, Reach helps you understand how the sharing of your content impacts your ability to attract and engage your audience. Without it, it’s difficult to accurately measure your ability to engage people or to turn them into customers.

You can evaluate Reach in two ways - organic and paid. This will help you to determine whether your content was seen primarily by people engaging with your content or due to your ad spend.

Also, by reviewing the data chronologically for specific dates, you should be able to identify the exact content or campaigns that engaged most with your audience, whether in a positive way or negative.

Analyze your Engaged Audience

Now that you know your engaged audience, increasing it each month becomes the goal. As your number of page likes increases, you will also want to expand the number of users who engage with your content.   When combined with your posts, the percentage of audience engaging metric tells you when and on which content types you’re getting engagement value from the audience you’ve worked so hard to build.

Grow your Likes

Although your total number of page likes isn’t the only metric you should care about, like growth is important. It can help you identify tactics to increase your audience as well.

First, look at the sources of your likes. By doing this, you can determine where folks were in Facebook when they liked your page or what device they were using as well as they came across it through a paid source or organic.

Next, you want to compare that with other user actions by reviewing likes, comments, shares, and link clicks for a given time period within the same chart.

Third, check out your page visits. Look at the number of times each of your page was viewed alongside your new likes. This information will tell you which part of your page is a bigger attraction to your new likes. 

And finally, consider your referrers by looking at your likes progress over time. This will tell you which non-Facebook activities bring you the most likes.

Identify Who Likes You

To identify who likes your page, establish an audience baseline using Facebook Insights demographic data. Then, put the data to work. For example, knowing where your followers are located can help you to make informed decisions about the kind of content you share and when you share it.  No matter your brand, it’s important to know that age and gender demographics for your Facebook followers matches your target audience for your product or service. Then use sales data to identify the products in which your audience is more likely to be interested. Once you’ve established a baseline, go beyond follower demographics by building identities that map to certain products or content topics. Measure engagement with content which ties back to the identities as part of your regular audience analysis. This type of analysis can give you a more profound understanding of your audience and which content will resonate with them.

Identify when your Audience is Active

By noting how your page likes change when your fans are online, you’ll be able to time content posting more wisely to increase page likes. By comparing the timing of your likes to when you’re fans are online over time, you’ll be able to paint a realistic picture of how posting times affect page likes in particular.
 

Stay tuned for our sixth and final post in the is blog series in which we’ll dive into Advanced Analytics and how to identify growth opportunities.

What will be the biggest web design trends in 2015?

Image courtesy of Quora.com

An interesting question showed up on Quora recently. What will be the biggest web design trends in 2015? At Extra Nerds, we like to monitor these kinds of discussions not only because we are nerds, but also because it's important for us to stay on top of what's changing in the world of web design and development. And, we figured you might be interested too since, if you're reading this blog entry right now, you may be interested in making sure your website is on the bleeding edge.

Quora user Jowita Ziobro, Director of Delighten, provides the best answer to this question, elaborating in generous detail on what trends to watch. In particular, she talks about how gestures are the new clicks, content below "the fold" is less relevant, users are quicker, websites are simpler, pixels are dead, animations are back, components are the new frameworks, and how social media campaigns are reverting back to email. It's a lot to take in, but it's well worth the read if you're interested in making sure your website is catering to the modern audience.

And, as always, if you're not interested in learning about this stuff, and you just want your website to work for you... then you always have Extra Nerds to rely on. We stay on top of this stuff so you don' thave to, and we can create websites to meet all of your needs. Contact us to talk about developing your next website or improving your current website.

Tips for building a following on Facebook, Part 4: Ads

So far we’ve determined our objective and our strategy (part 1) and we have considered our target audience (part 2).  In part 3 we emphasized the importance of and provided some tips on managing content. Now, let’s talk about ads. 

Using Facebook Ads is an easy way to reach more people. You can run ads that get people to engage with your posts or direct them to your website.  It is also a way to share exclusive content and information with customers.  According to eMarketer, global ad spending on social media will total $23.68 billion this year and reach $35.98 billion by 2017. That’s huge, right?  Clearly, social media advertising is becoming a great way to market your business, product, or service. So, here are the how-to basics:

Choose an Objective

Your first step in creating an ad campaign on Facebook is to choose your objective. Once you have done that, Facebook will automatically optimize your exposure to the audience that is most likely to take action in the way that will help you reach your objective.  For example, if you set your objective to get more downloads of an app that you are advertising, your ads will get shown to the people who are most likely to install the app.

Customize your Audience

Reach the people who are the most important for your business objective.  We discussed the target audience for your business page, but let’s take it a step further and talk about the intended audience for ads. You can connect with those who have already shown interest in your page, use existing contacts, or reach new contacts using the lookalike audience option.  All of these tools can be accessed through the Ads Manager and are described below.

Also, a relatively new addition to the Facebook option is dayparting, which is running ads during a specific time period to ensure that users are served those ads during that time frame based on their time zone.

Using Audience Insights is another great tool designed to help marketers learn more about their target audiences. It provides aggregate information about geography, demographics, and purchase behavior. We’ll cover this in more detail in our upcoming blog post addressing Analytics, but it's important to realize it's the connection between data and ad creation.

Native (Mobile) Ads

Let’s not forget about the importance of mobile pages! Facebook certainly hasn’t. Last year, they introduced the Audience Network, which “improves the relevance of ads inside mobile apps by extending the reach of existing Facebook campaigns beyond Facebook and helping developers and publishers monetize their apps”. The best part of Audience Network is its native ad format which allows managers to “create custom ad experiences in their apps that maximize yield and user experience”. They have customizable templates and management tools already set up for you to use. Thanks Facebook!

It’s important that your ads are concise and eye-catching so that they draw attention as users scroll through their news feeds and friend pages. Relevant and engaging photos, videos, and appropriate links make Facebook Ads an important method to find new customers and build brand loyalty. Check out our blog on content for some more tips on how to do this.

So, I hope that this information will be helpful to you as you move forward with promoting your business, service, or product on Facebook. To learn more, the Social Media Examiner offers a detailed and comprehensive look at Facebook marketing in their Essential Facebook Marketing Resources: A complete guide. Also, Facebook itself has a dedicated page for marketers that you can "like" or "follow" for news, tips, and best practices.

Now that you have created your page and have an effective marketing strategy in place, what's next? Stop back next week for the fifth installation in this series when we delve into the analytics.

Tips for building a following on Facebook, Part 3: Content

So, in part 1 of this series, we determined our objective and our strategy and in part 2, we considered our target audience.  We will certainly want to talk about Ads and Analytic Tools as well, but we’re not here quite yet. For now, let’s talk about content. After all, the content on your page is your cornerstone for building and maintaining followers.

Posts on Facebook - and most social media outlets for that matter - are more successful when they connect with your audience in an authentic way. It can be difficult for a business to navigate that idea since the temptation is to be more business-oriented. While is it, of course, important to maintain a level of professionalism, remember that Facebook was created as a social interaction site, targeted more towards individuals than for businesses. As its relevance evolved, however, its perceived usefulness expanded. It’s a great tool for businesses to get their brand out into the world, however, a more casual approach should be considered. So here are a few guidelines to keep in mind when posting on your business Facebook page.

Keep it short and sweet

It’s a good idea to create basic updated and post about things in which your customers would find interest. Now that you’ve identified your target audience, knowing that which should appeal to them should not be terribly difficult. Your post should not be convoluted or even very long. And remember that, even when you keep it simple, you can get draw attention to your posts, once published, by pinning the post to the top of your page or embedding the post into your website. You can accomplish either of these tasks by clicking on the arrow in the top right corner of your post once it is published and choosing the option from the drop-down menu.

Pin to Top: keeps your post at the top of your page. It’ll be the first post people see, which is great if you have an important update or event.

Embed Post: add the post to your website. If there’s a special post you would like for visitors to your website to see, FB will provide you the code to add to the HTML of your web page.

Use eye-catching photos, graphics, and videos

Posts with attention-grabbing photos, graphics, and videos stand out in news feeds and will draw more attention. It is, therefore, more likely that people like, comment, or share your post with others which is how you expand your audience.

Interact

It’s important that the page manager is interacting with your followers by responding quickly to comments.  When you are responsive, you’ll find that customers will be as well. It’s also a good idea to visit your clients’ pages and comment or share their content. Frequently, they will return the favor and you can help each other to build a following.  

Pay attention and post more of what customers want to see. When you learn how your customers are responding, you’ll be able to post more of what they enjoy. And don't be afraid to show some personality. Posting on your page is about quality, not quantity.  From there, you can build on your more popular updates, post more of what your followers like, and avoid posting that in which they are not interested. Analytic tools can help you more here as well, and we’ll discuss that in a later blog in this series.

Keep a Calendar

When special events or holidays are approaching, mention them or incorporate them into your posts. Planning and scheduling posts around important dates—like Independence Day, Halloween, or even silly days like May the Fourth Be With You (Star Wars Day)—means you’ll be more likely to get attention.

Post about offers, events, or milestones for your business. Click on “Offer, Event +” at the top of your status update field.  This is a great tool for businesses.

Link Posts to your Website
When you add a link to your post, it automatically creates an image from the website and a shows a large, clickable area that makes it easy for people to go to that site. Consider customizing the headline and description to intrigue your customers and give them a reason to click!

So, hopefully these tips on how to manage your content will come in handy. Check back for more posts in this series which will get into the nuts and bolts of how to manage ads and utilize analytics.