SEO for Facebook Guide

© 2015 BancVue. All rights reserved.
What We’ll Cover
Why Use Facebook?
Facebook Lingo
Best Practices for Creating Your
Profile
Types of Content and Interactions
Examples
Do’s and Don’ts of Facebook

Why Use Facebook?
Facebook helps marketers create brand awareness, drive traffic to a
website, and deliver SEO benefits.
Although Google has said that a brand’s number of Facebook fans
and other similar quantitative social signals don’t affect your Google
ranking, being active on Facebook can affect SEO in other ways.

Why Use Facebook?
Using Facebook benefits SEO because:
Google crawls Facebook pages, so Facebook content could
appear in search results.
Content popular on Facebook is more likely to be shared in other
places, like blogs, news articles, etc.
Links to your website on dozens of different sites tell Google your
content is popular, relevant and authoritative.

Facebook Lingo
A Facebook Profile is an individual’s page within the Facebook
platform. Users can post and share various types of content about
themselves, or content on the internet they find interesting.
Facebook Profiles have privacy settings that allow the user to
control whether they can be found within Facebook search, as well
as what parts of the profile other users can see.
A Facebook Page is similar to a Facebook Profile, but it is intended
for promoting certain entities like brands, non-profits, local
businesses, artists and more. Facebook Pages are public and can
be seen by all users on Facebook who search for or “like” a
particular page.

Facebook Lingo
A Post is a piece of content that a Facebook user places on his or
her page. This content can include simple text, links, photos,
videos, questions and more.
A Like is a way for users to “vote” for other Pages or content inside
and outside Facebook. When a user likes a piece of content, that
content is more likely to be seen by other users on Facebook.
When users like a Page, they are endorsing that Page on
Facebook, as well as subscribing to see the page’s updates in their
News Feed when they sign into Facebook. When a user “likes”
something on Facebook, there’s a chance that a friend of that user
will see in their newsfeed, “so-and-so liked a photo from Kasasa”
with links that lead to the actual photo and the Kasasa Page.

Facebook Lingo
The News Feed is a feed of updates that users see when they log
in to Facebook. It shows posts from their friends, Pages they have
“liked,” and advertisers who are targeting users based on their
interests, connections or behavior within the Facebook platform.
Friends on Facebook are users who are connected. Friendship on
Facebook is established only when both individuals approve of the
friendship.
Fans are users on Facebook who have “liked” a Page. Users can
be a fan of multiple pages on Facebook, and unlike friends, a “like”
is a one-direction relationship. Brands also do not approve or deny
“likes” on their page.

Facebook Lingo
Both Facebook Profiles and Facebook Pages can tag other users
in their posts. Profiles can tag any other users they are connected
to, as well as any Facebook Page, whether they have liked that
Page or not. Pages can tag other Pages, as well as Events, but not
personal Facebook Profiles.
Events are pages on Facebook that serve as the equivalent of an
invitation and RSVP for events. Only Facebook Profiles can invite
users to events, and they can invite only users they are connected
to. Both Facebook Profiles and Facebook Pages can create
events.

Facebook Lingo
A Facebook Timeline is a collection of photos, posts, videos and
more that make up a Facebook Profile’s or Facebook Page’s story.
Major historical events in an individual user’s life or brand’s history
are recorded as special posts called Milestones. Milestones are
displayed in a Profile or Page’s About section under Milestones
and in the Timeline.
In addition to Liking content, Facebook Profiles and Pages can also
Share content. Sharing is different from Liking an item, in that it
posts the content on your Facebook Profile or Page. For example,
if you Share a photo, the actual photo will be posted to your profile
or page, rather than just text that says you Liked a photo.

Facebook Lingo
Comments can be made on any post on Facebook. Similar to Likes
and Shares, comments are restricted by Profile privacy settings.
Pages cannot comment on an individual user’s posts, but users
can comment on a Page’s posts.
Reviews can be left by Facebook Profiles on Pages to tell other
users what they think of a given business, brand, artist, etc.

Facebook Lingo
Facebook’s algorithm for ranking the content in a user’s News
Feed used to be called EdgeRank. It was based on 3 main factors:
• Affinity (how closely is the user connected to the content’s source, and
how has the user interacted with this brand in the past?)
• Weight (how much have users interacted with the content, and what
type of content do users engage with most, like photo or video?)
• Decay (how recent/current is the content, and is it topical or trending?)
Now, however, News Feed ranking is determined by as many as
100,000 factors. Our advice? Don’t chase the algorithm, but
instead adopt a content strategy that informs and helps your
consumers.

Best Practices for Creating Your Profile

In this section, we’ll go through the process of creating a Facebook
Page for Freedom Institution in a way that is good for SEO.
Let’s head over to facebook.com/pages and start creating!

Facebook gives you a lot of options for
creating your page.
Different profile fields will be available
based on the type of page you
choose. We recommend selecting
Company, Organization or Institution,
since the Local Business or Place
option is for one location.

Once you’ve chosen Company,
Organization or Institution, select the
category Bank/Financial Institution—
whether you are a bank or credit
union, this is the most appropriate
category for your institution. Most
customers are familiar with this term,
so it’s the most search-friendly,
especially for Facebook searches.

For the description,
you have 155
characters to briefly
introduce your
institution.
Try to focus on
including a few
keywords, like bank
and accounts.

Adding a website will
help the search
engines make the
connection between
your Facebook page
and your website.
Be careful when setting your Facebook web address, or vanity
URL, like facebook.com/doyoukasasa; you can change this only
once after setting up your page, and you’ll want to reserve that
ability in case of a name change or merger. Please see our
URL-creation guidelines on the next page.

Your Facebook web address can be an important SEO factor, and
makes it easier for users to find your page. Here are a few things to
keep in mind:
Use your name, not keywords.
Use something customers can easily remember.
Use your full name if it’s not difficult to spell and is three or fewer
words long.
Omit title words like “the.”
If your name is long, use a common abbreviation. If possible,
abbreviate only part of the name, like using “MagnoliaCU” instead
of “MagnoliaCreditUnion”
If the name is already taken (e.g. “First National Bank”), use an
abbreviation and then the city of your main branch (e.g. “fnbaustin”)

Search engines can’t read pictures, but they can tell if you included
one! Facebook users are also less likely to engage with you if you
don’t have a profile photo, and a lack of engagement (shares,
comments, likes) can hurt.
Optimal dimensions for a Cover Photo are 851x315 and 180x180
for a Profile Picture. What makes a good Profile Picture? For a
brand, it should be a logo. What makes a good Cover Photo?
Promote whatever specials or events you have coming up.

We recommend clicking the “Add to Favorites” button, which will
let you easily access your new page from the sidebar in your
News Feed. This can help you quickly navigate to your page to
post updates.

In this step, Facebook gives
you the option to create ads
to drive users to your page.
We recommend just clicking
the “Skip” button for now,
since you probably don’t want
to pay to lead users to your
page until it’s more
established. You can always
set up Facebook ads later,
once your page has more
content and Likes.

The cover photo goes across the top of your page, like a banner.
Similar to your profile photo, it doesn’t really affect SEO, but can
help with engagement. You could use a picture of one of your
branches, but we recommend something more fun like a photo of
your staff or customers (with their permission). You can also use
this space for a promotional banner.
The picture must be at least 400 x 150 pixels. Once you’ve
uploaded your picture, you can reposition it within the frame.

Here’s the finished product once we’ve added a profile picture and
a cover photo.

Clicking on the cover photo will let you add a description, which
can be helpful for SEO. Remember to write in a way that’s
compelling to both users and search engines.

We still need to update a few more things. Click the “About” tab to
see the available fields we can edit.

This can be changed
to the year your
institution was
founded.
We recommend
entering the address
for your main branch.

An optional field that’s
required by some
countries (you can
leave it blank).
The long description is
a great place to add
additional information
about your mission,
the products you offer
and why they are the
best banking solutions
for people in your
geographic area.As a reminder: never include APR/APY
information on your social media channels.

Once you’ve entered
your address, you’ll also
see a new field:
Subcategories.
Subcategories help
people find your page.
They appear at the
bottom of your cover
photo and in search
results. Relevant
subcategories include
Bank, Financial
Services and Loans.

Instead of
entering specific
product names
(e.g. “Freedom
Checking
Account”), use
account types
(Checking
Accounts, Auto
Loans, etc).
Kasasa is the
only exception.
General email
address, if you
have one (e.g.
info@FI.com).
Good field to fill out, if
your institution has an
official mission.
Great field to fill out, if
your institution has
received any awards.
Customer service line
or main branch
number.
Unless your founder
is a well-known
person, this is not
particularly helpful to
users or search
engines.

Once you’ve completed your profile, you should Like a few other
pages if you’d like to show support for another page or your
connection with it. You can Like non-profits you support, local
businesses and pages like Kasasa!
Pages you Like will show up to the left of your Timeline. Up to five
will display at a time, so if you have Liked more than 5 pages,
Facebook will rotate between them. However, if there are certain
pages you would like to always display (to show you are connected
to Kasasa, for example), you can specify this by making these
pages Featured Likes.

First, make sure you’re using Facebook as your
Page (ex: Freedom Institution) and not
liking/sharing/comment as your personal
Facebook account. This will ensure that any
activity (likes, posts, comments, etc) is
associated with your page and not your
personal profile. It’s very important to always
switch to the right entity so personal posts
aren’t attributed to your institution or vice versa.
Click the drop-down arrow in the top right of
your screen, then select “Use Facebook as:
[your institution].”

Next, find the page you want to Like and click the “Like” button.
Then click your institution name in the top right to go back to your
page.

Click the “More” dropdown, then select “Manage Tabs.”
On the next screen, select “Add or Remove Tabs.”

Click “Featured” in the navigation on the left, then “Add Featured
Likes.”

Select the pages you want to set as Featured Likes and click Save.

Now let’s discuss types of content and interactions you can post on
Facebook and how they relate to SEO. The types of content include:
Notes
Events
Photos, Photo Albums and Videos
Milestones

Notes are essentially a built-in blog on Facebook. They work well
when you have a large piece of content and you want it to live on
Facebook.
If you don’t see a Notes tab on your page, you’ll need to go back to
More  Manage Tabs  Add or Remove Tabs. Click “Add App”
under Notes. This will add “Notes” to your “More” dropdown menu.
If you’d like to make it one of your visible tabs, you can use
“Manage Tabs” to drag it closer to the top of the list of tabs.
Otherwise, you can always find “Notes” by clicking the “More”
dropdown.

Successful note writing is the
same as blogging, so refer to
our SEO for Blogging Guide!
You can Add Photos to your
note, but search engines
can’t read images. Make
sure to include a Caption.
Tags connect and form
associations between your
note with other people and
pages on Facebook.

Once you’ve published a note, it will be visible in your Timeline as
well as in the column to the left of your Timeline.

Creating Events
First, head over to the section just
below the top of your page where you
can create a post.
Use short, descriptive names, include
your name in the details section
along with the goal of your event, and
allow anyone to post/comment on the
event wall, which is important for
social SEO. Assign a category to help
people find your event when they
search on Facebook.

Creating Events
Photos make events more compelling and more likely to be shared,
commented on, attended and seen by other users. Interaction with
content you post on Facebook, including events, contributes to
SEO. Add a description to the event photo if you’d like to tell search
engines what the photo is about.
Finally, invite all your friends and family to your events to increase
attendance and sharing on Facebook. This must be done while
using Facebook as your personal profile.

Photos, Photo Albums and Videos
As we’ve said before, search engines can’t read a photo, even
photos with text in them. For every photo, photo album and video
you post on Facebook, you should include a description that is
search-engine friendly and compelling for humans.
Yes No
We had awesome cupcakes at our
Kasasa Launch Party on February 15th!
Everyone who attended had a great time
helping us celebrate Kasasa and the
great ways it helps people save.
Freedom Institution’s Kasasa Launch
Party on February 15th, 2013 at Stubb’s in
Austin. Kasasa Cash, Kasasa Saver,
Kasasa Giving, Kasasa Tunes, Reward
Checking, High-Interest Checking and
more.

Posting a Photo/Video
Note: Posting photos and videos involves the same process –
upload and describe. Photos, however, are the most-shared
content on Facebook, which is a factor for SEO.

Creating a Photo Album
Photo albums have
some extra SEO
benefits. You can give a
description, title, location
and date of the album so
all the photos are
associated with those
attributes.

Milestones
Milestones are meant to be viewed as
achievements. Examples are 10 years
in business, a new branch opening, or
new product offering. Milestones also
appear in the About section of your
page, so they benefit campaigns in
multiple ways.

Examples
Let’s look at some real-life examples of how financial institutions large
and small are applying the concepts we’ve presented thus far.
Mint.com
Bank of America
Verity Credit Union

Example 1: Mint.com
“Company
Overview” has
more great
information for
users and
search engines.
Good keywords
present: Online,
mobile, financial,
bank accounts,
bills, free credit
score, credit
cards,
investments,
tips, advice.

Example 1: Mint.com
This post includes content
that Mint.com users care
about. Teaching kids about
finances is top of mind for
many parents.
Plus, the photo mentions
eating 30 percent of your
kid’s ice cream, which is
going to get a chuckle (and
consequently a share) out of
a few Facebook users.

Example 1: Mint.com
More timely posts from Mint.com:
Summer New Year Fall

Example 2: Bank of America
Bank of America’s
page focuses on
how it serves
communities
around the country.
It seems the bank
hasn’t put a lot of
thought into SEO
when it comes to
the information it
provides.

Example 2: Bank of America
Because many
Americans are
still very budget
conscious, a lot
of content on
financial
institution pages
is focused
around financial
education and
money-saving
tips. Bank of
America is no
exception.

Example 3: Verity Credit Union
Verity CU’s
page is
focused on
how it serves
its members.
They used
their full
name, which
happens to
have a
keyword in it
— “Credit
Union”

Their “About”
section has tons of
helpful info that
people shopping for
a financial institution
would want to see.
Clear and
comprehensive
information that is
keyword-rich and
compelling to users.

Verity CU is great at demonstrating
its involvement in the community.

Rather than focusing only on products (or even the institution), Verity
provides a variety of information that people might find helpful, covering
everything from parenting to sleep.

Verity is also great at slipping in mentions of product offerings in
ways that are timed to appeal to members.

Verity is also good at demonstrating involvement with its
membership.

Finally, Verity does a great job of leveraging social media to
encourage engagement by conducting promotions and giveaways.

Do’s and Don’ts of Facebook

Do’s of Facebook
Do tag other pages in your posts when it is relevant.
Do post photos frequently, since they are the content most likely to
be shared on Facebook.
Do have fun; Facebook is a social place.
Do fill out all the information that is relevant in the profile section.
Do mention your name in posts occasionally.
Do promote your products in about 20 percent of posts, but in a
way that is relevant to customers.

Do’s of Facebook
Do use keywords that customers would use when writing your
posts. Instead of DDA accounts, customers would say checking
and savings accounts.
Do include links to your website in your profile and in posts when
appropriate, as well as links to your other social presences.
Do use your full name for the name of your page.
Do choose a vanity URL that is memorable.

Don’ts of Facebook
Don’t post photos of customers without asking them first!
Don’t post only promotional content or repeat content you’ve used
in the past. If you have an event coming up, you can create
multiple posts about it but they all need to offer new and different
information.
Don’t post content that takes a side on a political issue, or that
turns a sensitive holiday/anniversary into a marketing opportunity
(e.g., tying your brand to 9/11).

Don’ts of Facebook
Don’t post any specific content related to someone’s account
information (do delete posts and comments from users who
mention their account information and then send them a private
message on Facebook to help them resolve the issue).
Don’t connect your Facebook and Twitter feeds so that your
Tweets are automatically posted on your Facebook page or vice
versa. You need to have specific content for each platform.
Don’t use grainy pictures.
Don’t start using social media without talking to your compliance
department.

SEO for Facebook Guide

Empfohlen

Empfohlen

Weitere ähnliche Inhalte

Was ist angesagt?

Was ist angesagt? (20)

Andere mochten auch

Andere mochten auch (9)

Ähnlich wie SEO for Facebook Guide

Ähnlich wie SEO for Facebook Guide (20)

Mehr von Kasasa

Mehr von Kasasa (16)

Kürzlich hochgeladen

Kürzlich hochgeladen (20)

SEO for Facebook Guide