Chapter 2
In This Chapter
Understanding the basics of Facebook Platform
Connecting your Twitter account to Facebook
Using Facebook badges
Integrating Facebook into all your marketing efforts
Facebook is a lot more than a place for status updates. It offers fantastic ways for people to connect with friends and for businesses to connect with customers while they enjoy all the features of Facebook across the web. This chapter introduces the ways that you can connect your personal timeline and business page in the areas of your choosing. We explain how to integrate Facebook with Twitter, add social-sharing tools to your website and blog, and add a social networking element to your offline marketing activities.
Developers are provided with a set of tools globally called Facebook Platform. Facebook Platform refers to the API (Application Programming Interface) that developers use to connect a website or app to Facebook. Any time you use Facebook to log in to a site or you click the Like button on a website, the website owner has used Facebook Platform to provide these features in the website.
Facebook Platform is used in many ways; in the context of websites, it is often called Facebook for Websites. Facebook for Websites allows you to enjoy all the social features of Facebook while maintaining the safety features that prevent your data from being accessed maliciously. Facebook offers several options to website and app developers to make your experience on the web more social.
Facebook for Websites enables you to sign in to other sites or online services using your Facebook e-mail login and password and automatically take your Facebook profile information to your favorite sites. Because of Facebook’s tremendous popularity, it’s common to find sites and applications that have utilized Facebook for Websites, simplifying your online activity. For example, if you use Pinterest, you can log in using Facebook — you don’t have to make another user profile to create a Pinterest account.
Many of the sites using Facebook for Websites require you to give them permission to access certain information in your timeline or business page, as shown in Figure 2-1. Facebook describes this function as an application (or app) and requires you to give the app specific permission to access your timeline or page.
The information that the app accesses is normally just what it needs for the function and purpose of the app. For example, if you’re using the social check-in site Foursquare, you might receive badges posted on your timeline as a trophy or an award when completing certain check-ins. For this reason, Foursquare needs to access your timeline feed.
Some websites or applications are designed to enhance Facebook business pages. If you’re managing a business page and attach an app to it, the app’s access will be to that business page you administer (you can determine which ones; when you install an app, it doesn’t have to apply to all your business pages).
When the app requests access, the request shows the specific things that the app needs to access. For instance, in Figure 2-1, Scott is installing the Twitter app on his personal timeline. The app needs to post to Facebook as him. Why does the app need to post on Facebook as him? Well, Scott is installing the Twitter app so that when he posts to Twitter, the same update is broadcast to both Twitter and Facebook.
Facebook’s OAuth service allows applications to follow a standardized way of ensuring privacy and security while letting apps you choose connect with Facebook and engage with the features and functions of the platform. OAuth is the permission tool that verifies that your information is safe and accessible only as authorized. For you as a user, authorizing other applications is simple. Most applications have an easy process by which you give them permission to access Facebook.
The OAuth process allows you to have peace of mind when using certain services or applications. Some sites eliminate their own form of sign in and use Facebook Platform. For example, popular sites such as Pinterest, Etsy, and ShortStack enable you to sign up or log in with your Facebook account rather than with an e-mail and a password. In this way, you can manage your online connections without having to create accounts.
Facebook Platform allows developers and site owners to use various Facebook features outside Facebook. The following list describes ways you might use Facebook Platform:
Facebook Platform is handy for people who would like to use the features and benefits of Facebook in other websites or applications. When you log in to another site using Facebook, you gain access to tools for sharing, commenting, and connecting in the same way as in Facebook.
Many people and businesses don’t have time to manually post updates to all the various social media platforms. Instead, they cross-post from one site to another automatically — when one account is updated, it sends a post to the others. In this section, we briefly discuss how you can connect Facebook to your blog, Twitter, and Google+.
If you want to drive traffic to your blog site using Facebook, you can use a third-party app to connect your blog to Facebook. An app such as HootSuite or Post Planner enables you to post a status update with a link to the blog post. This method differs based on the app that you use.
HootSuite and Post Planner are typically used for posting status updates to several accounts from one screen. Both apps enable you to schedule the updates so you can control when they're posted. (See Chapter 3 of this minibook for more about scheduling updates with third-party apps.)
To connect your blog and Facebook in HootSuite, follow these steps:
Some Twitter users connect with people in a different way than they do on Facebook, while others prefer to syndicate their Twitter updates to the status updates on their Facebook personal timeline (this feature doesn’t work with a business page).
Connecting your personal timeline to Twitter is easy:
The first result in the list is most likely the original application. The app you’re looking for is simply named Twitter and displays the Twitter name and bird logo.
The page shown in Figure 2-7 appears.
The Twitter login screen appears.
Your Twitter Profile page appears.
A screen appears, asking for permission (refer to Figure 2-1).
Now all of your updates on Twitter will also post as a Facebook status update. Keep in mind that @replies and direct messages will not post to your Facebook status.
You can connect Google+ so that posts there also go to Facebook. However, you can't post from Facebook to Google+.
To connect Google+ to Facebook, you need to install an extension on Google Chrome (the web browser), such as http://socialba.com, or use a site such as http://friendsplus.me/ or https://ifttt.com/.
When you’re browsing the web, you often see several features that make the web more social by using Facebook Platform. The biggest benefits are a single sign-in for many websites and the capability to Like a business page while on the website. These features are enabled with Facebook plugins, also referred to as social plugins. Facebook plugins are found at http://developers.facebook.com/docs/plugins/, as shown in Figure 2-8.
In most cases, social plugins don’t require you to do anything to use them if you’re signed into Facebook. Your browser can keep you signed in (you need to select the Keep Me Logged In check box when you first log in to Facebook). These plugins include the following:
Using social plugins such as the Share, Like, and Recommend buttons makes your site more social. Facebook’s social plugins are great for giving your visitors a way to recommend your site to their friends. You might want to use social plugins in the following places:
Increasing traffic by giving your loyal readers and visitors an easy way to share with their friends is important. People are more likely to do what's easy, so Facebook’s social plugins can help increase your website’s popularity! The Facebook social tools allow you to share in Facebook in two primary ways:
Where should you put your share button? Some say that putting the share button at the top of the blog enables readers to instantly see the social proof if the story has been read. Others say that people don’t want to scroll to the top to share an article or blog post they’ve just read. Scott thinks that the top and the sidebar are usually the optimal places for the share button.
Another option is to put one share button at the top of the article showing, for example, how many people have already Liked the article, and put the rest — such as share buttons for Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ — at the bottom of the article. When you put the social proof (how many people Like the article) at the top, you encourage others to read the article. And when you also put the other share buttons at the bottom, readers can quickly share the article to multiple social media platforms without scrolling back to the top. You can see how Scott positions share buttons on the Post Planner blog site, at http://postplanner.com/blog. The site uses the Flare plugin for WordPress to display social-sharing icons.
The bottom line? Put the share button wherever you feel is best, but make sure you consider the two schools of thought when setting up your site.
Badges are add-ons that you can place on your site to show a little bit of information from Facebook, such as text from your business page or your favorite Facebook photos. (See Figure 2-11.) You can use badges as a way to attract friends, followers, or interaction on Facebook. For example, a badge on your personal site can show how many people have Liked your business page as proof to visitors that they should as well.
You can add the following types of Facebook badges to your site:
To get the most out of Facebook, you have to take it a step further and integrate it into all your other marketing efforts. Connecting a business page to your blog or website, and other social networks such as Twitter, is one way to broaden your reach when using Facebook as a marketing tool.
Facebook provides brands and networkers a way to extend the relationship with their customers beyond limited in-person interaction. Often, when customers have another way to communicate with you, however simple it may be, the value of that relationship increases. The following sections discuss a few ways to foster that relationship and invite your customers, friends, and those you network with to connect with you on Facebook as well.
In the business world, you hand your business card out to nearly everyone you talk to. Business cards are obviously designed to provide someone the details of how they can contact you at a later time. Include your Facebook username on your business card so that when people are connecting with you for business, you’re offering them the opportunity to connect with you socially as well.
Some fear that the mix between business and personal is not a wise idea. Scott disagrees. If you enjoy and believe in what you do, you should be more than happy to offer that to your friends. Also, when you reach out to someone in a friendly manner (by friending them on Facebook), you add a friendship factor to the relationship that in many cases increases the chances that people will buy from you. On the other hand, you might prefer to invite people to connect with you on your business page if they're interested in doing business with you. For example, although Scott has the follow feature enabled on his personal timeline, he only friends people he knows well. He likes to keep a personal space for himself and his family and friends.
If you own a business or blog, put a link to your business page on your website. Sometimes, giving people the opportunity to connect involves simply letting them know that you'd like to be connected on Facebook.
If you own a retail business, people can’t click a button to connect with you on Facebook in your store to Like your business page on Facebook. However, many people carry smartphones, so you can use QR codes to direct customers to your business page. A QR code is a barcode that directs a device to your site of choice using a barcode scanner app. (We like the QR Reader app for iPhone or Android.) The QR code in Figure 2-14 directs a smartphone to Scott’s personal timeline. Feel free to give it a try and follow Scott.
Today, Facebook is one of the most common ways of communicating. But only a few years ago, the best way to reach people was by phone. Remember when you used to write down your phone number on a gum wrapper when you wanted to give someone a way to reach you? Well, put your Facebook username there instead! The same goes for your business page. If you provide yard work, for example, wouldn’t it be great if everyone who saw the logo on your truck also saw the URL of your Facebook business page?