Extend the Shelf Life of Your Content

Avoid "dating" your marketing materials 

A few years ago, I joined the fall festival committee in my town and was charged with developing a website and handling online marketing for the event. The fall festival is an annual event and highly anticipated by the townies and tourists alike and I was honored to have been given the opportunity. 

I didn't notice at first, but after a year or two, I realized that the committee needed to order new banners each year in order to change the date. After the first year, I stopped using the date on the website and Facebook page in favor of the "Last Saturday in September" (since that does not change and as a coder, I am rather lazy when it comes to things like that) and suggested that they use that as well. This saves both time and money as our banners and other materials do not need to be repurchased each year and our website and Facebook covers are always up-to-date.

Another local group needed lawn signs to promote their regularly occurring breakfast fundraiser. Since they always plan it for a Sunday, but not on the same month or date necessarily, I advised them to purchase a sign that reads "Breakfast This Sunday" to put up at the beginning of the week and "Breakfast Today" to put up on the day of the event. This has allowed them to use the same signs for the past 4 years.

One of my clients uses videos to promote their annual summer "sport vacations". I watched the video and the voice at the end said "2012 teams are forming now." They are still using the video to advertise this summer, but for future reference, just saying "teams are forming now" or "summer teams are forming now" would have been just as good and kept the video fresh.

While websites generally can be changed quickly and at a relatively low or no cost, printed materials, videos and other marketing materials generally have to be ordered, reprinted, re-shot or repurchased and can be quite expensive. With a little creative thinking and planning ahead, you can save money and time by maximizing the "shelf life" of your marketing materials.

NEW Facebook Cover Guidelines :: Simplified Rules

The Ban Has Been Lifted!

Apparently, Facebook modified their Page guidelines yesterday regarding Facebook Cover Photos. Although they didn't make an official announcement, the new guidelines have been simplified and there is no mention of not being able to use pricing information, contact info, references to Facebook features or calls to action.

This Facebook Cover from Bed, Bath & Beyond which was against the rules "yesterday" is good to go today:

Here are the new simplified Facebook Cover Guidelines:
All covers are public. This means that anyone who visits your Page will be able to see your cover. Covers can't be deceptive, misleading, or infringe on anyone else's copyright. You may not encourage people to upload your cover to their personal timelines. Covers may not include images with more than 20% text. Source: https://www.facebook.com/page_guidelines.php

The old guidelines stated that pages were not allowed to include any pricing or purchase information ("40% off", "Buy One Get One Free"), any contact information (phone number, website, email address, etc.) or any other information that "should go in your Page's "About" section". They also specifically stated that you could not make any reference to Facebook features and actions ("like", "share", or an arrow pointing to any Facebook feature), or use any call to action ("buy now", "click here", "visit our website") in cover photos. Although not spelled out, it appears that what was "against the rules" "yesterday" is now "a-ok today." So... here is what is now implied in the guidelines by virtue of them having been removed:

Covers MAY NOW include:

• price or purchase information, such as “40% off” or “Buy One Get One Free”;
• contact information such as a website address, email, mailing address, phone number, etc. AND information that should go in your Page’s “About” section;
• references to Facebook features or actions, such as "Like" or "Share" AND/OR an arrow pointing from the cover photo to any of these features; AND/OR
• calls to action, such as "get it now" or "tell your friends."

Here are some more Facebook Covers that brands have used in the past that are no longer "against the rules" (although they are most all likely to be breaking the 20% text rule):

Here's my new Facebook Cover:

(go ahead, click it and then like my page)

Meet the Shoemaker...

Facebook Cover Rules... Has the ban been lifted?

Great news for brands if this is true

Earlier today +Hugh Briss blogged about possible changes to the Facebook guidelines for Page's cover photos. If this is true, this is great news for brands as they will now "officially" be able to include their website address and phone number on their cover. 

It should be noted that the 20% text rule does not appear to have changed, so be sure to keep that in mind before making changes to include your contact information. You can do an "unofficial" check by uploading your cover here and then dragging a box over your text areas - total of all needs to be under 20%. 

Here are links to the Official Facebook Page Guidelines and Complete Page Terms:
http://www.facebook.com/help/276329115767498/
http://www.facebook.com/page_guidelines.php