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Do you remember the last time someone sent you a greeting card? It may appear somewhat trivial. But with greeting cards, we capture those moments that give meaning to our lives. The magical moments. The picture above shows my 2 children who share one of those magical moments during our vacation in Greece.

Life is a special occasion. Hallmark is a brand that understands this. Their marketing people have understood this. Watch their Facebook page and discover the power that lies in sharing magical moments with others. Here are 7 wise lessons you can learn from Hallmark’s Facebook page:

#1 Put a magic tagline on your wall picture

“Life is a special occasion”. Can you think of a better tagline?  The strength of this statement lies in the simplicity of these words. Leonardo da Vinci once said: “simplicity is the ultimate sophistication”. Hallmark’s tagline on their wall picture is a shining example. It is short and powerful, it covers everything, focuses on key moments and fits perfect with their product.

Tip: Add an awesome wall picture to support your tagline. When you’re choosing your wall picture, make sure you pick one that also looks great when it turns into the little thumbnail that people see in their newsfeed.

#2 Use calls to action that pay attention to your audience

Hallmark’s welcome page is a great example of paying attention to their audience. It does not say in big letters “like us”. On the contrary. The call to action is: share your Hallmark moment. And in small letters and in question form: like us? Tell us by Clicking the button above. Beautiful!

#3 Turn your Facebook Page into a Mini Hub

If fans visit your Facebook page, why not keep them there for as long as you can? Hallmark uses its About section to invite visitors to their store or signup for email. They understand the power of turning a Facebook page into a mini hub.

Tip: Offer your fans everything on your page, so you can keep them there for as long as you can. Hallmark could improve their page with some additional Facebook applications. Think about apps like Signup or Store Locator.

#4 Add enchanting photos on your landing page

Make the best first impression with a well designed landing page. Maximize your brand position with an enchanting photo. Use big photos with smiling people. Especially children are very enchanting. What a beautiful photo of a boy with a smile and a booklet with the text: “I love you Grandma”. Need I say more?

#5 Give your fans a place to tell their story

Here is the most important lesson for anyone who thinks about creating a Facebook page. Your page is not intended for you but for your fans. Again. Your Facebook page is for your fans. Hallmark understands this perfectly. They added story teller to their page. Give your fans a place where they can tell their story. Encourage interaction. Make sure your fans visit your page again to read other people’s stories.

#6 Enrich your Facebook page with an online shop

Hallmark visitors are invited to shop on the Facebook page. Pick a card and we’ll do the rest. Now that’s what most people are looking for. Make it simple, fun and easy to use.

The Hallmark Shop lets you pick a card by category, add a personalized message and upload a photo. You can choose to mail the card yourself or ask Hallmark to mail it directly to the recipient. Enter the address, choose payment and place your order without ever leaving the Facebook page. Hallmark’s ecommerce store is powered by the company 8thBridge. They serve some of the top merchants in the U.S. such as 1-800-Flowers.com and Brooks Brothers.

#7 Give your fans a special treat

Your Facebook fans deserve a special treat. Hallmark gives their fans first views of the new Father’s Day commercial before it will start airing on June 6th. They also share some background info about the making of this commercial. When I wrote this article, this special commercial treat received 167 likes and 21 comments.

Make sure you study the top brands on Facebook to learn how to enchant your audience with your Facebook Page. Let these 7 wise lessons guide you.

Are you ready to share your Hallmark moment or do you want to share another story about Facebook pages? I invite you to use the comment box below.

Thanks for spending this moment with me.

How do you get maximum results from your Facebook campaigns? Start using the new Facebook metrics.

This week Facebook released 3 new metrics that focus on real people instead of just clicks. In this post you’ll discover the power of these new metrics and how to use them to maximize the ROI of your Facebook Campaigns.

#1 Maximize the Reach of Your Target Audience

Every marketeer aims for a high reach of their target audience. Facebook ads offer you super precise targeting with criteria like location, demographics, likes, interests and viewers connections on Facebook. With Facebook’s Reach, you can maximize the reach of your target audience. Here’s why:

Until now you could use impressions to see how many times your ad was shown on Facebook’s Site. However, impressions include people seeing your ad multiple times. So, with impressions you never know exactly how many people viewed your Facebook ad.

Fortunately, Facebook now offers a solution with Reach, which works different than impressions. Reach is the number of real people who saw your ads while visiting their personal page. So, there is no double counting of people. With Reach you’ll know the exact number of people.

Why is it important to improve your  Reach? Improving the Reach of your ads means increasing the Click-Through Rate (CTR). This is the number of clicks your ad received divided by the number of times your ad was shown on the site. Facebook uses CTR as an indicator of how well your ad is performing. Facebook ads with a high CTR have a lower cost per click (CPC)!

Reach helps you improve your CTR, lower your CPC and thereby increase your ROI.

#2 Improve your CTR with Social Reach

Social Reach is even more interesting, as it tells you the number of people who saw your ad in a social context. This social context is defined by displaying your ads showing the names of viewer’s friends.

Showing your Facebook ads with the names of viewer’s friends increases the Click-Through Rate of your ads. Sometimes even doubling the number of clicks. Imagine how this will improve your ROI.

Social Reach is only available if you’re advertising a Facebook page, event or application.

#3 Increase the Effectiveness of  your Ad with Frequency

Marketeers know that repetition of their ads increases the effectiveness. Facebook’s Frequency gives you insight into the number of times each person you reached saw your ads, on average. With Frequency you can evaluate whether you’re broadcasting your message with the right intensity.

How to use Facebook metrics to maximize your campaign performance?

You need 3 things to maximize the effectiveness of your Facebook Campaign:

1. A great offer
2. Enchanting ads
3. Maximum reach

Here’s what you need to do next:

Start with A/B testing to compare multiple ads against each other. Test different ads and discover the optimal combination of image, title, text and destination page.

Predefine Key Metrics as indicators of success. Think about click-through rate, cost per click or connections (the number of people who liked your Facebook page, RSVPed to your event, or app).

Next, maximize the reach and intensity of your campaign. For this you need the new Facebook metrics: reach, social reach and frequency.

Test different segments within your target audience. For instance, if you target females, 18 – 45 years old, living in San Francisco. Create 4 ads for these 4 different segments: F in SF 18-24, F in SF 25-30, F in SF 31-40 and F in SF 41-45. Monitor reach, social reach and unique clicks and pause the ads with the lowest performance.

Gather enough clicks to make your test results statistically significant. As a general rule of thumb, make sure you have at least 100 clicks for each ad.

Once you’ve run your ads long enough, pause the less effective ads and push your budget towards the successful ones.

Use frequency and CTR to determine if your campaign is still effective or if it’s time to create a new one.

To summarize: the success of your Facebook Campaign depends on a great offer, enchanting ads and maximum reach. Add these new Facebook metrics to your monitoring tools to maximize the ROI of your Facebook Campaigns.

If you want to learn more about the new Facebook metrics, you can download the New Facebook Ad Guide.

What’s your experience with Facebook Campaigns? Please leave your comment in the box below.

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