Your out of the office. Will you be outta luck on responding to posts and comments on your fan page too?
It's summertime in the U.S. That means vacations, conferences, and time out of the office.
Me? Dangerous?
The good thing, though, is that simply because you're out of office doesn't mean you can't keep up! While there is value in downtime to refresh yourself (that's another post for another time), this post is about enabling you to keep current with managing your Facebook Page while out of the office.
In fact, I'm out of the office now, enjoying fun in the sun with the family, but I'm responding to posts on my Facebook page and some on TabSite (in collaboration with our team) while on the go. Here's some insight on some of the tools I use...
My family on vacation at the beach
With the popularity of the social media soaring by the day, it is important for online marketers to keep their Facebook page updated regularly, and monitor it daily to answer comments and questions that fans post. However, how do you keep tab on your Facebook page when you are outside the office, on weekends, or when traveling?
Here are four ways to ensure you know what’s happening on Facebook and keep up with timely responses on the go.
Most likely, you have some means to check your email while outside the office, either via computer, tablet, or mobile device. Facebook Pages offer email notifications that can be activated in the Page Admin settings. With these email alerts activated, Facebook sends a email notification every time there is something new on your company Facebook page such as a comment on one of your posts, or a fan submitting a post on the page.
If you are checking your email regularly when traveling, or in real time through smart phones, a person managing a Facebook company fan page can receive these Facebook emails to keep abreast of the latest developments. Additionally, a key is that you can simply reply to the email to reply to the comment on Facebook! Facebook takes your reply message and posts it as your Page replying to the comment.
The official Facebook Page Manager app, available free for iPhone and Android devices, allow page administrators to connect with their audience and keep up with the activity on the page. It allows the page admin to post updates and photos, respond to comments, and view and reply to private messages. A key is the ability to activate to receive push notifications. This alerts the smart phone or tablet users by displaying a pop-up notification on the screen when there is a post.
The Page Manager app also offers stats on activity for the fan page, as well as ability to pre-schedule posts to the page that go out at a set future time. This is a valuable tool enabling a Page Admin to schedule for posting at a key time, even if they are otherwise occupied at that time.
Third party tools are online services that provide monitoring, posting, reply, and scheduling tools for your Facebook page within their software. An example of a powerful tool with a robust free version is Hootsuite. Hootsuite allows marketers to track conversations and measure the result of posts that takes place through the social media. Like the official Facebook Manager App, Hootsuite also offers an app for tablets and smart phones which allows the page owner to post updates, add images, monitor feeds, and do more while on-the-go.
Another benefit of a third party tool like Hootsuite is that in to the web version and apps, the service also allow users to manage, monitor, and post to other social media networks such as Twitter.
Another third party service that I can recommend is Sendible. This social media management, monitoring and analytics tool allows companies to manage their Facebook and social media presence. Like Hootsuite, this platform makes it easy to track and measure the success of every piece of content posted on the Facebook page, as well as keep track of responses by fans and to reply to them. It also offers in-depth stats on page visitors and ability to monitor and post to a wide variety of social services including Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+.
HyperAlerts, a free service, prides itself on offering “the features that Facebook Forgot.” Setup a free account online and then simply plug in the URL of the Facebook page or pages you want to monitor, customize the type and frequency of email updates desired, and this tool will email you whenever there is a post. Hyperalerts also makes it possible to reply easily. Business owners can actually monitor not only their own, but also their competitor pages via HyperAlerts, without having to “like” the competitor page.
Today's business marketer is on the go, and today's digital landscape demands timely responses and customer service. Marketers have no choice but to monitor their social sites on a real-time basis. These tools offer solutions that can help Page Managers keep up efficiently while on the go.
Do I use them all? Yes. I have the email notifications setup because I check email the most while out of the office and on the go. This keeps me alert to comments and posts on the Pages I manage, as well as posts by other Pages I monitor. I then use the apps to plan posts and to respond to posts as well as check statistics.
YOUR TURN: Any tools that you use and recommend for facebook page monitoring while on-the-go? Post them below and let us know!
Disclosure: Some companies recommended I am an affiliate of. Therefore some links may be partner links.
