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Technology Advice for Small Businesses

3 useful Facebook tips

Facebook_Apr28_AFacebook is widely believed to be one of the most important and usable tools for businesses looking to establish or further their online brand and marketing efforts. For business owners and managers that have a presence on Facebook there are a number of tools and features that are highly beneficial, some of which you may not yet know about.

If you want to get more out Facebook as a social media marketing platform and potentially increase your overall reach and campaign effectiveness, then follow our three tips.

1. Search for ‘randos’

As a business, there is a good chance that if you run your company’s Facebook Page you will be connecting with other business owners, managers and employees. This is especially true if you are primarily B2B oriented.

There is also a good chance that you are connected with individuals from other businesses you deal with. However, increasing your business reach means trying to connect with more people from your target businesses. The question is, how you do it.

One way is to use the search bar and to locate individuals working at companies you work with. The method will usually show up the people you are already friends with first. Instead, use a different search technique. Enter randos at company [replace company with the company name] in the search bar on Facebook. This will search for names of people you don’t know or aren’t friends with at the company.

This can be a great way to find new people to connect with, and grow your network and increase brand recognition.

2. Always check the Other folder

We all know that the messages section of Facebook is like an Inbox where you are able to view and send messages and chats to your followers and friends. But did you know that there is an Other folder that could contain important messages that you may have missed?

This Inbox is actually part of your Messages Inbox that holds messages that are filtered out of your main Messages Inbox. You can access the Other Inbox by:

  1. Logging into your Facebook Page.
  2. Clicking on Messages which is located near the top of the left-hand ribbon on the Page, usually right below your profile picture.
  3. Selecting Other which is located at the top-left part of the Page.

It is a good idea to look at this Inbox on a regular basis just in case an important message comes through that you would have otherwise missed. If you click Edit Preferences you will be able to edit the filtering that takes place automatically.

3. Know your shortcuts

Keyboard shortcuts are among the most useful features of any program, and what many people may not know is that Facebook actually has shortcuts as well. These shortcuts work across most browsers, however the first keystrokes are slightly different for each. For example:

  • Firefox for PC users need to enter: Shift + Alt + key stroke
  • Firefox for Mac users need to press: Command + key stroke
  • Safari users need to press: Command + key stroke
  • Chrome for PC and Mac users need to enter: Ctrl + Alt + key stroke

Here are some of the more useful keyboard shortcuts:

  • 1 – opens the Home Page. This is the page you see when you first log into Facebook.
  • 2 – opens your Timeline.
  • 3 – opens your Friends.
  • 4 – opens your Inbox.
  • 5 – opens your Notifications.
  • 6 – opens your Account Settings.
  • i – Will like or unlike a selected story.
  • m – creates a new message where you can enter the recipients name and then start chatting.
  • J and K – scrolls between stories in your Newsfeed.

If you are looking to learn more about using Facebook in your business get in touch with us today to learn more.