Erin Tillotson

You may have seen this on some websites already, they’re pretty awesome. Facebook officially unveiled their Open Graph API and tools over a month ago. Over 50,000 websites have already started using this technology. I’m pretty sure this number will grow as businesses discover new ways to use these tools with their website visitors.

To install the wordpress Like button there are plugins that work very easily, for any website owner. Here are a few that I found:

Like – Let your readers quickly share your content on Facebook with a simple click. It supports multiple languages and has many options for you to customize.

Facebook Like Button – Adds the facebook Like button and has a nice admin panel. Also supports multiple languages.

Facebook Like Button Plugin – This plugin allows you to have global settings and be able to speficy what posts have the button and exclude it from other posts and/or pages.

These are only a few plugins. Look them over and see what one fits your needs best. Facebook has added many social plugins for you to use. I love all these new features!

How are you using Facebook on your websites and blogs?

So many businesses are seeing success with targeted Facebook ads. Facebook ads offer businesses flexibility and optimization of their ads. You can chose dates and budgets for your ads, as well as who you want to target.

What’s in an Ad?

The Title
No longer than 25 characters, is the bold blue headline. A strong title can include your business name, the name of a product, a call to action, or a target audience’s interest.
The Destination URL
Every Facebook ad must have a destination URL that is directly tied to the ad, so this may not be your home page. This is key to getting your ad approved. If your link is not revert to the ad you are likely to get rejected. If you want to promote something on Facebook (event, page, application or group) then you will need to chose the option “I want to advertise something I have on Facebook”
Image
It is highly recommended to add an image to your ad to make it more appealing to the eye. The ad system will resize any image you add to 110 by 80 pixels.
Body Text
This will appear just below your image and has 135 characters available. It should include details to your offer, product, service or event.

Targeting
The targeting options need to directly match your advertising goals. You can set a number of filters to assist you in reaching the best audience for your ad. Options include; Location, Language, Demographic, Education and Work, Likes and Interests, and Connection Targeting. As you edit each of these areas Facebook will update you on your estimate reach alone the right hand side.

The Like button on ads
Many ads will have the well known like button. This allows users to express their liking over ad. Their friends will also see this action on their version of the ad. There is an “X” in the top right corner where users can close the ad. These actions assist Facebook advertising improve their system.

Reporting
Once you run an ad you will have access to reports from Facebook on how you ad is doing. These reports include standard metrics like Impressions (the number of times your ad was shown) and Clicks (the number of times your ad was clicked on), and Conversion metrics. You will be able to view demographic and profile information on those that have clicked your ads, for example; age, gender, location, interests, books, etc.

Facebook has a webinar recording available to you on “How to harness the full potential of Facebook Ads and Insights”. Great information to those who want to run ads on Facebook.

If you would like more information on Facebook ads here is the resource center from Facebook.