With Easypromos you can create a competition or promotion on a Facebook page. In the last tutorial we explained how to design a promotion adapted to the Facebook Timeline. In this tutorial we will explain how you can promote and publicize your Easypromos contests with the new Timeline for Facebook pages.
When you create a promotion or contest, the first thing to do is publish the promotion on your Facebook page so that the fans of the page will be the first to find out about, and enter, the promotion. In this tutorial we will give recommendations regarding the different methods that exist in Easypromos and Facebook for successfully publishing a promotion in a Timeline of a page. We understand a ‘successful’ publishing of a promotion to be one which provides the maximum amount of information to the user regarding the promotion, in the way in which the administrator desires, and using an access link that works for all devices, including mobiles, smartphones and tablets.
1. Publishing a promotion using the Easypromos ‘Promote’ function
The ‘Promote’ button, located in the control panel with the other possible actions for a promotion, allows you to post in the Timeline of the Facebook page. Note that this is NOT for publishing in the Timeline of a personal profile, which can be done by using the ‘Share’ button in the public area of the promotion.
This should be the first action taken once a promotion is activated.
Upon clicking ‘Promote’, a window will appear with a preview of the story that will be published in the Timeline:
In the text field you enter a short description of the promotion, or whatever else you choose (it can be left blank) and then click on ‘share’. This will automatically appear in the Timeline of our page. The information about the promotion that will be shared is: title, description and main image of the promotion.
Upon clicking ‘Enter’ the user will be taken to the main page of the promotion.
Important note:
In the Premium and White Label versions of Easypromos, the elements to be shared (title, description and image) can be customized via the following fields: ‘Viral title of wallpost’, ‘Viral description of wallpost’ and ‘Viral image of wallpost’. These fields are available in the section of the promotion editing form entitled ‘Other customization options’.
2. Publish a promotion via direct links
We have made it easier to publish a promotion (or any of its main pages) by simply copying and pasting the direct URL of the promotion.
Therefore, now when you paste the URL in your Timeline, the complementary information of this URL (title, description and image) will appear. This feature is specifically available for:
- Access Tab
- Entry Form
- List of Entries
- Single Entry
To obtain these URL directly they can be copied directly from the navigator. What’s more, all promotions have a collection of predetermined links that you can copy directly (except that of the single entry, which is not unique). This list can be found on the ‘Links to promotion’ page, available in the options of your promotion:
Important note:
When sharing a promotion we recommend using the link tab because it is 100% compatible with mobile devices and you will thus reach the greatest number of users. When you share a promotion on your page it is recommended that you use the main link and that this link should be formatted like the one that follows, replacing {promotion_id} and {page_id} by their specific values (example for an Esypromos Premium Promotion):
https://apps.facebook.com/easypromos-premium/promotions/{promotion_id}?fb_page_id={page_id}
3. How to make a publication on your Facebook page stand out
3.1. Set up the tab access at the top: icon and name
Unlike with the previous display of the Facebook pages (called ‘landing tab’), tabs (which provide access to Easypromos pages) are now located in the top-right part of the screen, just under the main image.
As you can appreciate, it is highly probable that the Easypromos application does not appear by defect among the 4 that are visible. To solve this problem, you must click the small triangle on the right in order to see a list of installed tabs/applications.
You can see that our application (‘Get a FREE promo’) is in fourth position. Go over the ‘Likes’ icon to swap it for our promotion and click on the icon that appears.
From the ‘Swap position with’ list we select our application and this will now automatically appear whenever the page is loaded. Thus it will not be necessary to search for our application among all the other apps.
Since Facebook incorporated Timeline into its pages, it has been possible to customize the icon and the name of the application. To do this, access the page editor.
Once inside, select ‘Apps’ from the list on the left. Then locate the Easypromos app and click on ‘Edit settings’.
We can customize the name and image (111 x 74 px) from the window that appears.
3.2. Pin a post to the top of the Timeline for 7 days
Due to the philosophy of social networks in general, and Facebook in particular, if there is a high volume of updates made to your profile, it is probable that posts will become ‘obsolete’ or be relegated way down in the Timeline. This will make them effectively invisible to users who rarely explore further than what is immediately visible when they load a page. This problem has existed since March 30, 2012, when Facebook eliminated the previous method of display – the landing tab - and replaced it with the Timeline.
To avoid having to keep republishing the promotion in order to make it continually visible, Facebook has created the ‘Pin to Top’ tool. This serves to keep the post at the top of the Timeline for seven days or until the option is manually deselected.
3.3. Enlarge the post in the Timeline
As well as being able to pin a post to the top of a Timeline, Facebook also allows you to enlarge the post to a double column, thus giving it much greater visibility.
To do this, just click on the icon with a star:
Que convierte la publicación a doble columna:
4. Important recommendations and tips for posting a promotion in the Timeline
1. Don’t publish and publicize the promotion via the URL of the Facebook tab
This URL, although it might be the first logical choice for sharing on your Timeline, is not the best option to use. This is because it is not supported by mobile devices and so only users who are in desktop mode will be able to see it. We recommend you use the URL of the promotion as we have indicated in part two of this tutorial.
2. You can overwrite the title and description in the Timeline
Once you paste a direct link on your wall or Timeline, you can modify the contents that appear by default (title and description) to customize it according to your needs. To do this you must first paste the URL and see how the information appears:
Now, before accepting the post, place the cursor above the title or description. You will see how they become highlighted in yellow:
Clicking on the title (or description) will cause a text field to appear in which you can add the text you want.
Then, clicking on ‘Post’ will cause it to appear in our Timeline normally.
3. Use online services to create a shorter URL and help share the promotion
By using URL reducers (like ‘bit.ly’ or ‘goo.gl’) you can use shorter, much more manageable links which are easy for users to copy, write and share on social networks such as Twitter.
These types of tools also offer statistics regarding each one of the links, thus giving you further insights into the impact of your posts and the diffusion of the promotion.
4. Be consistent in the Timeline if the promotion uses the country filter
As we commented in the earlier post (‘Update of Easypromos Premium and White Label: promotions with country restriction’), a promotion can be designed to be visible only in certain countries. It is therefore important to use the same filter when posting a promotion in your Timeline so that users in countries not included in the filter will not be able to see the link. To use this filter in the Timeline you must follow these steps (from the ‘Promote’ Facebox detailed in Part 1 of this tutorial):
Clicking on the padlock icon (at the bottom) will open a small window in which we can select the ‘Location / Language’ option:
A small form will appear in which you can enter the countries you wish to filter (that is, those countries where the promotion will be visible). It is also possible, but not necessary, to enter a specific region.
Related links
- Optimize promotion design in the new Timeline
- Analysis of new Facebook Timeline
- How to increase the quality of entries in a Facebook competition
- Filter promotions and contests by country
- Update of Easypromos Basic: new viral system and mobile support
- Accessing Easypromos promotions and contests from mobile devices
- Facebook’s promotion guidelines
- Types of promotions and contests on Facebook with Easypromos
- 3 good practices for creating an effective promotion in Facebook
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