My name is Elise Grice (formally Elise Ostermann) and I am currently the Art Director/Co-Owner at “Hey, Sweet Pea”. Our business specializes in branding development and custom online marketing designs for websites, blogs, and social media. Our branding company is all about business health.  Just like our body needs fresh green veggies, our clients need fresh marketing/branding/design. They need fresh ideas. Our goal is to help other businesses thrive, grow, and flourish because we believe every business deserves an awesome brand.

We also believe every business should have a rocking social media presence! Long gone are the days of traditional marketing. We are in the age of DIY free marketing. Yes, it takes time, devotion, and skill, but anyone can learn how to turn their Facebook page into an extension of their brand/blog as a portal for new clients/fans and business/blog buzz.

LIKEable content

One of the first ways any brand page can create this buzz, is by creating notable content. What is that? LIKEable content is simply posts that people like to see and read. Two of my favorite Facebook pages to date are ones that post awesome and hilarious tidbits for me to chuckle over (See wordsmith rock stars:  Jasmine Star and Baby Carrots ). When I chuckle, I LIKE. I, along with many, many others, also love visual content that stirs my emotions or catches my eye. I see pages that post beautiful work, inspirational photos, or any other kind of visual eye candy and I’m instantly hooked. What do I do? I click LIKE (See visual rock stars:  Sassyfras Studios and Volume 25 ). See how that works? The first step in getting people to interact with your page is in your court. This is your page, your brand, and your image. It’s your job to create content that people see, relate with, and interact with.

REACHable curator

After you’ve created notable content, it’s your job to keep the conversation going. If someone posts on your photo or status, acknowledge that they did so! If someone writes on your content, Facebook allows you to tag them on that content afterwards! Which means you can directly respond to people who write you, by not only responding but speaking to them directly (also, this means they’ll definitely get a notification that you wrote them back)! If people are taking the time to write you, make sure to take the time to thank them, appreciate them, or answer their questions. People love knowing there is a real person who cares behind the Facebook page. So if someone writes you, seize the opportunity to connect even deeper with them!

BRANDable look

One of the best things you have going for your page, is the fact that you can now easily brand it to be visually pleasing. The cover image across the top is the perfect opportunity to showcase your work and your branding.

Tips for Branding Profile Graphic: Keep it simple, keep it clean, keep it recognizable. I think one of the best solutions to this is simply using your logo. Logos are meant to be designed in such a way that people can quickly recognize them. They’re perfect for creating brand recognition in your fan’s overwhelming news feed. And hopefully it sets you apart from all their friend’s posts (See rocking profile graphics:  We Heart Photography & The Define School ). The optimal size of your profile graphic should be 180x180 pixels.

Tips for Branding Cover Image: Keep it visually interesting! Make sure it looks balanced with your profile graphic (and that the profile graphic doesn’t cover any vital words or information) and pulls in some elements of branding and photography. Since your profile graphic is already rocking the logo, you don’t necessarily have to include that in your cover image. Instead, perhaps use an image of your products, your work, etc. and possibly your tagline. I also recommend using a photo on the left side and branding elements/words on the right, that way the page looks balanced (See cover image rockstars:  With Love, Design & Nakate). Just make sure that you use the cover image to it’s fullest potential and take advantage of the free branding space! The optimal size of your cover image should be 851x315. Make sure it doesn’t infringe on any of Facebook’s rules found  here, (Section III. B.). 

WANTable page

Everyone’s number one question is how they can get more likes. First of all, more likes doesn’t necessarily mean more clients, more blog readers, etc. I firmly believe it’s better to have 20 fans pulling for you than 200 fans who could care less. With that being said, everyone wants those 20 faithful fans to grow to 200 faithful fans! How do you get there? By following all the steps above PLUS being nice. Can it really be so simple? Yes, it can! People like pages that are positive, encouraging, and helpful. They like rooting for your company when they care about the people behind the company OR because the company is sharing something worth liking (and hopefully SHAREing).

Get this: the more people who LIKE content, comment on content, or share your content, the larger the reach of your page becomes. Because if you create content that people LIKE, that content shows up in their friend’s feeds. Then when their friend’s like that content, it shows up in THEIR friend’s feeds. See how that works? The more your current fans interact with your page, the more fans you can accrue! Some things we’ve found helpful for growing our fan base is by: giving free/helpful advice, sharing important articles/info that will help our fans, sharing visual encouragement (such as daily encouragement, quotes, etc), posting about OTHER people and our colleagues’ pages, writing on our fans’ Facebook pages, posting LOTS of visuals, and staying true to ourselves by writing things that are REAL and US. People come to our page to be encouraged, to be inspired, and to learn. As Mark Twain said, “The really great make you feel that you too, can become great.”

Let’s go out and make GREAT Facebook pages together, in hopes that we can inspire others to do the same!

For more questions you can find me around the web at:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HeySweetPea

Twitter: @EliseOstermann

Website: www.heysweetpea.com

For all those interested in further one-on-one coaching (I love skype coffee dates):

http://heysweetpea.com/#/coaching/

For all those interested in our online branding class & online DSLR filmmaking class (perfect for bloggers & creatives alike)!

http://heysweetpea.com/#/workshops/

And for all those worried about the new Facebook algorithms… here’s some helpful information from the awesome, Wonder Forest here and here!